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Cattle Breeders and Breed Pioneers

Warren Gammon and the Search for a Hornless Hereford

A lawyer with a theory of heredity went looking for hornless Herefords and started a breed.

Who Was Warren Gammon?

Warren Gammon lived from 1846 to 1923 and was trained as a lawyer in Iowa, but his lasting work was in cattle. He is recognized as the founder of the Polled Hereford breed. The Saddle and Sirloin Portrait Foundation page on Gammon gives the summary used here.

Birth and death places are not given in that source, so this profile does not state them.

The 1898 Omaha Exposition and a Question About Horns

At the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha, Gammon became interested in polled, or hornless, Hereford crossbreeds. Horns were a daily nuisance in feedlots and rail cars, where animals injured one another and handlers.

His college-aged son introduced him to Charles Darwin's writings on heredity, which pushed Gammon toward a deliberate breeding plan rather than a lucky find.

How He Built the Foundation Herd

Gammon searched the Hereford registry, which had roughly 2,500 breeders, for purebred animals that carried the hornless trait. He acquired eleven animals and began breeding in 1902.

That is a small start. A founder herd of eleven animals meant every mating mattered, and it explains why he needed his own record system.

The Polled Hereford Registry

Gammon established a separate Polled Hereford registry and served for many years as executive secretary of the new breed organization. The page does not name the organization, so it is best described only as the Polled Hereford breed association.

A registry gave breeders a way to prove that a hornless animal was also a purebred Hereford, which is what buyers needed to hear before paying for seedstock.

The Key to Gammon's Success

Gammon succeeded by pairing a clear goal with a method and a record. He did not wait for hornless animals to turn up; he looked for them across the whole breed.

For a related Hereford pedigree story see a farm.FM story on Hereford history, and the farm.FM ranching pages cover the cattle trade in general.

  • He studied heredity, reading Darwin through his son's introduction.
  • He searched about 2,500 registered Hereford breeders for polled animals.
  • He bred eleven foundation animals starting in 1902.
  • He created a separate registry to protect purebred status.
  • He stayed as executive secretary for many years, giving the breed continuity.

How the Breed Grew

By 1976, Polled Hereford cattle outnumbered horned Herefords in the United States, and they made up about three-fourths of Iowa's Hereford stock. The breed he started had come to dominate the one he began with.

The Hereford breed itself had a strong foundation in the 1880s, when the bull Anxiety 4th was imported to Missouri, according to the American Hereford Association article. Gammon built on a breed that already had national reach.

Visit the Polled Hereford Breed Origin Site

The Polled Hereford Breed Origin Site lies southwest of Indianola, Iowa. The Iowa Polled Hereford Association put up a historical marker there, and the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

For anyone tracing hornless cattle back to where they began, that site is the most direct place to start.

The Portrait Foundation entry is the best short account of how he moved from law to breeding, and it remains a good place to confirm the foundation herd details.

Timeline

  1. 1846Born
  2. 1898Sees polled Hereford crossbreeds at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha
  3. 1902Begins breeding with eleven foundation animals
  4. 1923Dies
  5. 1976Polled Herefords outnumber horned Herefords in the United States
  6. 1983Breed origin site listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Frequently asked questions

Who was Warren Gammon?

Warren Gammon was an Iowa breeder, trained as a lawyer, who founded the Polled Hereford breed and a separate registry for hornless Herefords.

When did Gammon start the Polled Hereford breed?

He began breeding in 1902 with eleven animals he had found by searching among about 2,500 breeders in the Hereford registry.

Where is the Polled Hereford Breed Origin Site?

It lies southwest of Indianola, Iowa. It has a historical marker and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Why are polled cattle valuable?

Hornless cattle are safer to handle and ship, since animals do less injury to one another and to handlers. By 1976 polled Herefords outnumbered horned ones in the United States.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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