Career in Registered Aberdeen Angus Exhibition and Breeding
In 1912, Kershaw began a long career as a cattleman, with the initial purchase of a herd of registered Aberdeen Angus cattle from the Gatewood herd of Texas and the Nicholas herd in Iowa. He recognized the potential of raising high-quality show and breeding stock of a breed of cattle which were well-suited for the short grass of Oklahoma and the long, dry summers. Angus cattle could be cross-bred with the Texas longhorn, and the product would be a hornless breed of cattle. Angus bulls were popular with cattle breeders for their first cow because the calves would be small, and easy to deliver for the new cows. Kershaw was elected a Director of the New Oklahoma Free State Fair in Muskogee in 1913. It was the largest free State Fair and exposition in Oklahoma at the time. In 1917, one of Kershaw's prize bulls, winner of 19 championships, Ben Hur of Lone Dell, was featured on the cover of the Breeder's Gazette, the leading publication in the country at the time, advocating pedigreed cattle stock.
Kershaw showed the Grand Champion Steer, Muskogee Boy at the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago in 1917. (Kershaw was the first Angus breeder from the Southwest to be honored with champion show cattle at the International.) In March, 1918, this prize steer was offered for sale in a public auction held in the lobby of the Lee-Huckins Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City for the benefit of the American Red Cross. (The Lee-Huckins Hotel served as the State Capitol from 1910 to 1917).
The auction brought $3.16 a pound for the steer, for a total of $5,890 for the Red Cross Fund. This sale price set a new world record for the sale of a champion steer. This was in the middle of World War I and the funds were used to help American soldiers. The coat from the steer was made into an overcoat for President Woodrow Wilson and the meat was processed for General "Blackjack" Pershing's staff in France who shared it with wounded soldiers. Later that year, Kershaw was elected President of the Southwest American Livestock Show, one of the premier livestock shows in the Southwest.
Whenever possible, Kershaw would use an International grand champion bull or a son of one in his breeding program. One such bull was Plowman (son of the 1911 International grand champion, Kloman). Kershaw purchased Plowman for $3,050 after he won his class at the 1917 International Livestock Exposition in Chicago, IL. In 1919, Kershaw won the Grand Champion Steer trophy, with Muskogee Boy II, the brother to Muskogee Boy at the Texas State Fair in Dallas. That same year, his prize bull, Plowman, won the Grand Champion Bull trophy at five of the nation's most prestigious livestock shows, including the American Royal Livestock Show in Kansas City, MO; the Southwest American Livestock Show in Oklahoma City, OK; the National Western Stock Show in Denver, CO; the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show, which was later named the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, TX and also at the Kansas National Live Stock Show in Wichita, KS. After an extensive show career (Plowman claimed 57 grand championships as a 2,250-lb. 3-year old show bull) the bull was sold in Kershaw’s 1920 sale for $40,000 - a price unheard of at that time and a world record for many years. The dispersion sale of his herd at his ranch south of Muskogee in 1920 brought experienced buyers from all over the country to bid on some of Kershaw's prize stock. There has never been another herd of cattle that has shown over as wide an area of country and won so many premiums as that belonging to Kershaw. In this sale was included Plowman, one of the champion bulls in his herd, the champion of champions, with 57 championships to his credit, more than any other bull, living or dead; and Twin Burn Pride (V), crowned champion cow with 37 championships to her credit. The herd had won 266 grand championships, 685 first place rankings, 370 second-place, 186 third-place, 79 fourth-place and 43 fifth-place rankings, within a period of six years, bringing to the owner innumerable cups and silver trophies. He had intended to sell his complete herd at this sale, but instead held back one of his prize bulls and started all over with new cattle.
As President of the Southwest Livestock Show, he recognized the need for a new facility to show cattle in Oklahoma City, which was founded in 1889. He convinced officials with the Armour and Company packing house in Chicago to contribute $200,000 charged to advertising to go towards the construction of a Livestock Pavilion at the Oklahoma City stockyards. The fund raising began in 1920 and the new facility, the largest of its kind in the Southwest, was completed in 1922. In its time, the Oklahoma City stockyards and its related suppliers became one of the largest industries in the city.
He continued to raise show and breeding cattle through 1948. From 1916 through 1948 he served in various leadership capacities within the Oklahoma Aberdeen Angus Breeder's Association and the American Aberdeen Angus Breeder's Association, serving as President and Director, respectively. At one time his herd was the second-largest registered and accredited Aberdeen Angus herd in the country. During the many years he raised and sold cattle, a number of luminaries would travel to his farm to bid on his prized cattle. They included James Cash Penney, the founder of the J. C. Penney stores; Tom Slick, a world-renown oil man; C. R. Anthony, the founder of Anthony's stores; Armand Hammer, the Chairman of Occidental Petroleum and Robert S. Kerr, U. S. Senator from Oklahoma, the "uncrowned King of the Senate" from Oklahoma, and co-founder of the Kerr-McGee Company. In 1969, the same year he passed away, Kershaw's herd was formally recognized as one of the Pioneer Herds of North America by the American Angus Association.
Read more about this topic: L. R. Kershaw
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