BENCROFT HERD OF PURE-BRED ATTESTED

British Friesian Cattle

THE PROPERTY OF Mr. H. G. HOLT

for Sale by Auction

(under the B.F.C.S. Auction Rules)

On Wednesday, July 25, 1956

 (12 noon)

At BENCROFT GRANGE, 2 miles from Rushden. It is 7 miles from Wellingborough, 10 from Bedford, 12 from Kettering and 18 from Northampton.

Visitors to the sale will be met at Wellingborough (Midland Road) Station on the morning of sale if time of arrival there is notified 24 hours beforehand to Mr. H. G. Holt.

Convenient details are the "Queen Victoria" (Tel. 2189) at Rushden: The "Hinde" (Tel. 200511)  at Wellingborough: the "Bridge" (Tel. 66355) and  the "Swan" (Tel. 2074) at Bedford.

MOTORISTS PLEASE NOTE - Bencroft Grange adjoins the London-Luton-Bedford-Kettering-Leicester main road (A6), 2 miles south of Rushden.

AUCTIONEERS: HARRY    HOBSON   &   CO.

Refreshments will be available.

Sale (Under Cover) to commence punctually at 12 noon

Catalogues from Mr. H. G. Holt, Bencroft Grange, Rushden, Northants, or from Harry Hobson & Co., Victoria House, Southampton Row, London, W.C.I (Tel.: Holborn 3964), who will execute commissions to purchase (written instructions must be sent).

Telephone:  Rushden 2348.

PLEASE BRING THIS CATALOGUE TO THE SALE

FOREWORD

For reasons of health and acting on medical advice Mr. H. G. Holt has reluctantly decided to discontinue milk production and to sell his entire Bencroft herd of British Friesian Cattle. Such is the outstanding merit of the stock now for sale that the event is clearly one of the most important and attractive of its kind to take place this year.

Mr. Holt founded the herd in 1916 when several good animals were purchased at the dispersal sale of Mr. L. S. Austin’s Wollaston herd. Subsequently other first-class animals wore acquired from such well-known herds as Greatpark, Illington and Monkton and from this foundation  a herd of great all round excellence—milk, butterfat and conformation has quietly been developed.

Nothing could more effectivelv illustrate the great productive capacity of the cows in the herd and the skill displayed in their management, than the following excellent herd averages for the years 1949 to 1955. These have been produced on twice-daily milking and very largely on home-produced food. Paticularly noteworthy are the consistently high butterfat figures and the quick and regular breeding as indicated by the Calving Indices:—

		lbs. milk	Butterfat	Calving Index
1949-50	21 cows averaged	12,923
	14 heifers	13,363	4.04%
1950-51	16 cows	13,639
	2 heifers	10,232	4.01%
1951-52	10 cows	10,292
	8 heifers	10,854	3.92%
1952-53	17 cows	11,846
	10 heifers	11,604	3.83%
1953-54	15 cows	13,175
	6 heifers	12,569	3.85%
1954-55	16 cows	13,732
	5 heifers	14,655	4.06%

                                           

The cows now for sale are generally of splendid type and conformation, with capacious frames and good udders. Several are quite outstanding. A number will be in full milk at the time of sale while others have been served to calve during the autumn and winter months.

As might be expected, the heifers bred from these good cows constitute a most attractive group. They are of uniformly pleasing conformation and show exceptional promise of udder development.

Full details of the well-bred bulls found in the herd’s development are given in the "Reference to Sires" section of the catalogue.
Several of the handsome cows catalogued are daughters of IVYHOUSE STEENICOPEL.
Most of the heifers are the progeny of MONKHAMS REKNOWN, a grandly-bred bull from Mr. J. M. Watt's herd in Essex. Several of the older heifers are by the home-bred BENCROFT STEEN FBISK.

ATTESTED HERDS SCHEME. The Bencroft herd is Attested. The last official Ministry of Agriculture Tuberculin Test was in November, 1955.

A representative of the Ministry of Agriculture will be in attendance at the sale to issue permits for the movement of animals to other Attested or Supervised herds.

VACCINATION. All home-bred females over the age of six months have been vaccinated with Strain 19.

TRANSFERS. Registration Certificates respecting animals born on or after January 1, 1947, will be dealt with by the Vendors as soon as possible alter the sale. The above does not apply to animals born before January 1, 1947.

BREEDING GUARANTEES    See Clauses 8 and 9 of the British Cattle Society's
                                     Auction Rules on pages 25 and 26.

DELIVERY. Animals will be put on rail free of charge (at purchaser's risk]. Written delivery instructions must be given.

IMPORTANT NOTICE. In the event of movement restrictions being in force in any district at the time of sale, intending purchasers from such districts should obtain movement licences from their local authorities. Such licences should be brought to the sale, where they can be countersigned to enable the cattle to be delivered without delay.

If necessary, arrangements can be made for animals to remain (at purchaser's risk) until they can be moved.

DEHORNING. A number of the cows and heifers have been dehorned and this is indicated against the lots concerned.

In accordance with B.F.C.S. regulations the letters P.I. [Pure Imported] will not be printed for animals of such breeding whose entries were registered in the 1951 or later Herd Books.

BUTTERFAT. Figures are furnished in compliance with requirements of Auction Rule No. 11.

The letters R.M. following the Herd Book No. of an animal denote that it is entered in the British Friesian Cattle Society's Register of Merit. The letters R.M.L. denote that the animal has produced 50 tons or more of milk.

A star appearing against an entry denotes that the bull so marked has a black hair spot on the foot or black hair spots on the feet and that its entry has been specially sanctioned by the Society.

The following abbreviations are explained: ret'd. — retained; R. to S. Reference to Sires; A.I. got by Artificial Insemination.

Figures  in  brackets after the Suffix R.M. denote a bull the number of R.M. daughters to a bull or the R.M. yields to females.

DAIRY EQUIPMENT: