Recently there have been questions from people who love Heritage/Native/Traditional Shorthorns about what AMSS has done to promote the pure Shorthorns that trace fully back to the Coates Herd Book. AMSS did in fact introduce the term “Native” in 1998 and start the “N” designation in the AMSS pedigree database in 2000. To our knowledge, AMSS has never promoted “Native” Shorthorns by running a single ad in a national magazine or journal nor even promoted them in their own AMSS journals or at their shows. In the words of the late Jack Barnes, who was a member of AMSS for over 50 years and the biggest believer in preserving the purity of the Shorthorn breed, “AMSS has never done a damn thing for Native Shorthorn breeders. All they have done is take our money.”
Prior to the start of the Heritage Shorthorn Society in 2018 and over subsequent years multiple attempts were made to have either AMSS or ASA or both do more to acknowledge and promote traditional pure Shorthorn genetics along with promoting their modern cross-bred Milking and Beef Shorthorns. All attempts were met with complacency &/or scorn because they saw no value in the old, pure Shorthorn genetics. As a result of the renewed interest in traditional Shorthorns created by the efforts of the Heritage Shorthorn Society, both AMSS and ASA are currently giving a nod to the heritage of Shorthorns on their websites, but they are still not doing anything to actively support and promote today’s breeders of true, pure Shorthorns.
Since its creation in early 2018, the Heritage Shorthorn Society has run 105 ads in a total of 14 different magazines/journals/venues. So far the expense for running the HSS ads is almost $24,000. This expenditure is only for placement of the ads in the publications, and does not include any payment for creating the ads, which has been done entirely for free by the founders of HSS.
A new ad for Heritage Shorthorns is in the Spring Livestock Conservancy Quarterly News (see attached photo of the ad)