On 25th July 1766 The Derby Mercury carried the following notice:
“To all who are Lovers of Nature’s wonderful productions.
There is come to the Red Lion in Derby that wonderful large Ox, which has been shown twice before the Royal Family, and has travelled fifteen hundred miles round, the property of Anthony Mills, Butcher, who bought the same to be weighed alive, and was weighed at Norwich April 16th 1765, and his exact weight was 243 stone one pound, (14lb to the Stone) – he was weighed again March 7th 1766 and he weighed 258 stone none pounds.
He was bred by the noted Mr. Wallet of Long Sutton in Lincolnshire and measures in length from nose to rump 13 feet and a half; in girth 11feet 10 inches, and is 18 hands and a half high; for which the proprietor has been bid 130 guineas. He is allowed by all judges, who have seen him, to be greatly improved since the proprietor last weighed him.
He is allowed by all the London butchers and salesmen in Smith field, who have seen him, to be a much superior Ox than that now shown at London, or that of the late Mr. Drewry of Lincoln.
To be seen by any number of persons, at any hour of the day, without lots of time. He is as tame and a s gentle as a lap dog, and is much admired for fat and beauty; and will be shown at Ashbourne on Monday 28th and Tuesday 19th following; and after at Buxton, Stockport and Manchester.”
This was the era of “Farmer George” – George III, King of England and the royal patronage of farming helped propel its importance. Today it may seem incredible that livestock could gain celebrity, but this was the case. As much money could be made out of showing a prize ox as could be made out of selling it or butchering it for meat. There was therefore great competition and claim and counter-claim as to who had the largest ox. Great status, enlarged by the ability to show to the King, could be gained by having the largest ox. It literally became an eighteenth century pissing contest between rival holders. For example, the above notice downcries Mr Drewry’s prize oxen, yet when this was butchered in 1692 at Newby in Lincolnshire it was found to have a deadweight of 255 stone seven pounds.
Mr Wallett of Long Sutton was one of the most famous graziers of his era and was shrewd enough to sell fattened beast on and not get caught up in the showmanship of the time. He can be found to show regularly at Smithfield where he regularly sold fattened oxen, some of which were purchased for export by the East India Company.
In 1771 Arthur Young, the Secretary to the Board of Agriculture had a tour of English farms that resulted in four volumes giving the details of land use, type and how it was farmed. His visit to Long Sutton gives great insight into the activity of Mr. Wallet:
“From hence to Long Sutton the country continues quite flat, but soil improves. Mr. Wallet of Sutton is one of the most famous graziers in England, particularly in fatting the largest oxen ever seen in this kingdom. The rent of the land runs at about £1 per acre, rates 1s.2d. in the pound , and tythe taken in kind.
Most of the country is applied to grazing beasts and sheep. Mr. Wallet buys annually 1400 wethers;[i] and others in proportion to their farms: they are bought lean at 20s. to 25 s. a head, and sold fat from 30s. to 40s. and the wool comes to from 5s. to 7s.6d. They are all bred on the lincolnshire Wolds, about Castor, Horncastle etc. and the breeders all aim at getting the largest boned tups”…
“Wethers are mostly kept a year and a half, so as to clip them twice; and some only 2 to a todd.
The great riches of this country are the salt marshes; many of which are so wonderfully fertile that they will fatten at the rate of a large ox and 2 or 3 sheep per acre. And it is certainly a common thing, to have the keeping of beasts given them at certain times of the year, merely to keep it down, that the sheep and
Regular stock may have a fresh young bite: an instance to be produced nowhere but in salt marshes. And a great advantage is, these rich lands never being known, however wet, to rot sheep.
Long Sutton common is one of the most famous tracts of land in this country, it contains 3500 acres of salt marsh. The right of commonage is unlimited; 30,000 sheep, 1000 horses, and 300 beasts, are annually kept on it, and many of them sold from it fat, which is certainly very extraordinary. But the whole would let for 24s. an acre without the expense of a shilling.
From Barton on the Humber quite to Long Sutton, is a tract of grazing land above 100 miles long, and from 3 to 10 miles wide. It is the richest tract in England, though not let at the highest rents, for they do not run at more than from 15s. to 25s. and acre. It will fatten a large ox and a sheep per acre.
But the higher lands, as they are called here, will fat a large ox and a sheep per acre and some will do more.
Many graziers buy in their oxen in autumn to eat straw in the winter; they then summer feed them, and if the beasts are very large, then put them to oil cake and hay, which likewise enables them to sell at the most profitable season.
Mr. Wallet’s beasts generally rise from 100 to 120 stone; when they are put to oil cake, which is always after the summer’s grass, they eat 24lb of cake a day, and as much hay: he keeps them loose in the yard, and gives the cake in mangers under open sheds; and he finds from experience that they should always have good hay: he has tried them with a secondary sort; and, compliance with the advice of others, with barley-straw; but nothing equals good hay: the beast will thrive in proportion to its goodness.
The oil cake necessarily forms three sorts; that is, the large pieces; the smaller ones; and the dust. Attention should be given to this circumstance: beasts will often at first fuse the pieces, but eat the dust; then the small pieces, afterwards the larger ones; but then they will no more touch either the smaller or the dust. If this management is not attended to, it will sometimes be difficult to bring them to cake at all.
As to the shape and make of the oxen for fatting, Mr. Wallet adheres to the old idea of large bones being the desirable circumstance – He thinks that a beast cannot come to a great degree of fatness without having room to lay the fat on; which is bone: and he thinks that this extends to the profit made by a given quantity of grass, which will be greater by fatting the large boned cattle than the smaller. In the year 1763, he killed an ox that weighed 145 stone, 14lb to the stone.
In the summer fatting of beasts, Mr. Wallett is of opinion that 10 fields, each of 10 acres, are far preferable to one of 100; and that the beasts by being changed will waste much less grass.”[ii]
The eighteenth century saw “graziers” common place in both national and Fenland agriculture as the nature of farming was more pastoral. That George Wallett achieved such notoriety in a common occupation for its time is possibly due to his inclination to sell beast southwards into Smithfield where he showed oxen with great success often increasing their value through showing. Other graziers in the area looked towards Lincoln, Newark and into the Midlands for markets. These did not hold the same renown for beast and were further away from the King. The location, the richness of the saltmarshes and the commercial advantage plentiful free high quality common land combined with his skill as a stockman to create success. He died in 1792 and had a considerable estate of property and interests in land of one form or another of over 200 acres, plus common land rights tied to some of those holdings. In a time when print was a growing media to achieve a national reputation from a Fenland farm was no mean feat. Especially when it was still considered an area that was relatively remote from the rest of the country.
[i] A wether is a castrated male sheep
[ii] The Farmer’s Tour Through the East of England Arthur Young 1771
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