Beef cattle reached the Fitzroy River inauspiciously in 1856 as the second choice of pastoralists; sheep and the wool trade were the favoured enterprise. Yet, as early as 1858 during the Canoona gold rush Colin Archer's good trade in beef 'dead and alive' caused his change of attitude to the ‘despised stock’. Within fifteen years beef cattle had almost replaced sheep in coastal districts. The region's pioneer cattle, predominantly Shorthorn, were gradually improved or replaced by Herefords through bloodlines from Archers' two Gracemere stud herds, or by other well bred bulls imported from the south. By the 1890s a keen controversy had erupted over the respective merits of Shorthorn and Hereford breeds, leading eventually to the predominance of Herefords. A similar controversy in the 1930s regarding horned and Poll Herefords produced more heat than rational argument. By the end of the period, 1850s-1930s, the dictates of half a dozen breed societies encouraged emphasis on the appearance of cattle rather than their commercial qualities, although some producers achieved excellence both on the hoof and the hook.