Million-Dollar Baby

There had never been a Hereford bull like Hazford Rupert 81st. At the age of three he won the grand prize at Chicago's International Livestock Exposition in 1936. Deep-bodied, square-rumped, the Hereford champion was sold to Cattleman Roy J. Turner, now Oklahoma's Governor. The price was small, only $18,500 for Rupert and nine other bulls. Rupert was withdrawn from the show ring, as Turner thought he would do better on his 10,000-acre breeding ranch in the heart of Oklahoma's "Hereford Heaven." He did.

Rupert worked so diligently at his trade that soon Hereford men referred to him respectfully as "Old 81st." In nine years his progeny on the Turner ranch alone totaled 497. Of these, Turner sold 118 cows at an average price of around $1,200, 160 bulls at an average of around $2,100, the lot for a whopping total of $486,225. The only one who ever shamed his father was T. Royal Rupert 60th. He sold for a record-breaking $38,000 (TIME, Jan. 24, 1944). Then Turner had to give the money back when T. Royal turned out to be sterile.

Off the Turner ranch, and down into the second and third generations, Old 81st's descendants added more glory to his name. One of his sons, T. Royal Rupert 60th, drew a cash offer --refused--of $60,000. A great-grandson, Del Zento I, sold last year for a record price of $51,000 (TIME, Jan. 14, 1946). All told, Old 81st's descendants were valued at well over $1,000,000.

A year ago Old 81st's ruler-straight back began to sag, his legs swelled with arthritis. He got so weak and lame that his handlers, anxious to maintain his invaluable services, adopted a strategy that beefmen rarely use. By artificial insemination, Old 81st got 190 more cows with calf before, wasted by pain, he was finally put to death last week.

Even the unusual manner of his execution--by internal severance of an artery following spinal anaesthesia--testified to Old 81st's greatness. Veterinarians chose this method as the one most likely to keep alive enough semen for a few more calves. Failing to find it, they buried the body under the elms of the Turner ranch. As the greatest sire in Hereford history, Old 81st had already provided the epitaph for the bronze tablet that will mark his grave.

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