On the Hoof

Two years ago a shy, white-thatched little man with drooping mustaches and a twinkle in his eye went to Chicago to exhibit his best beef cattle in the International Life Stock Exposition. His Briarcliff Thickset, a sleek black Aberdeen Angus, was named grand champion steer. Oakleigh Thorne, gentleman farmer, was pleased as Punch. A retired capitalist, a onetime president of Manhattan's Corporation Trust Co., he had been raising cattle since 1918 when he bought a 4,000 acre farm in Dutchess County, N. Y. Eastern dairymen had pooh-poohed the idea of large-scale beef cattle raising in dairy-farming New York State. "This championship proves," said Prizewinner Thorne, "what I have been telling Eastern Farmers all along . . . that they can compete with other regions in beef cattle as well as in dairy herds" (TIME, Dec. 14, 1931).

As this year's gaily bedecked Exposition opened at Chicago's Union Stock Yards last week, Gentleman Farmer Thorne was again on hand. So was last year's winner, Will Largent of Merkel, Tex., who raises Herefords. So was thin-faced Walter Biggar from Dalbeattie, Scotland, who has been judging the Exposition's champion steers for nine years. So were some 45,000 spectators daily who looked at some 13,500 animals on the hoof, largest assembly on record. A new corn king was crowned--C. Worth Holmes of Joy, Ill. A new wheat king was crowned --Frank Isackson of Elfros, Saskatchewan. A new healthiest boy and two healthiest girls (tied for first place) were named--curly-mopped Glen L. Sherwood, 19, 6 ft. tall, 177 lb., who has shoulders as broad as any steer's, played on his Larned, Kans. high school football, baseball, basketball teams, does everything around the farm; Clista Millspaugh, 16, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, who gets up at 6 a. m., milks ten cows before breakfast; Shirley Drew, 17, of Fayette, Mo. who is a freshman at Christian College, Columbia, Mo., has ridden her own horse since she was 4.

On the fourth day, Walter Biggar stepped to the centre of the arena to judge the champion steer. In the ring were four finalists--a Hereford, a Shorthorn, two Anguses. One of the Anguses belonged to Oakleigh Thorne. Mr. Thorne could not forget that no individual had ever won the championship twice, that his entry in the ring, Briarcliff Model, was heavier (1,217 Ib.) than was nowadays popular. Judge Biggar passed his sensitive hands over well-meated ribs, examined shoulders, circled again & again. Finally he pointed to Briarcliff Model. There was applause. By now Farmer Thorne was an upstart Eastern breeder no longer. Technicians talked of "new contributions to animal husbandry," of "vastly improved stock," of a gentleman farmer who knew the game. Said Judge Biggar: "The best fat steer I've ever seen at the show."

Two days later, as is the custom, Briarcliff Model was auctioned off. Highest bidder: Chicago's Palmer House. Price: $1,573, or $1.30 per Ib., highest since 1930, 5-c- per Ib. higher than last year.

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