Newsletters

What’s in a name: cattle breeds

Many of you have visited our farm at one time or another, and most have seen pictures of the cattle in our newsletters, so we thought it might be interesting to tell you a little about our cattle breed. Our cattle are mainly white with black “points”—nose, ears, feet. They don’t have horns as a rule, although we have one ‘family’ that produces “scurs” or little horn buttons without the underlying bone structure.

We usually call them British White Parks, but there is some controversy over what to call them. In England, the White Park is a horned breed which is genetically distinct from all other British breeds. They are an old breed, thought to have arisen directly from the auroch, a species that is thought to be the ancestor of domestic cattle. In the US, these cattle are called ‘Ancient White Parks. There is a herd of them at the Seed Savers Exchange property in Decorah, IA.

The British White is a polled (hornless) breed that differs little, genetically, from other British breeds like Angus, Hereford, or Devon, although they look very distinct. The picture was further muddied in America by crossbreeding that was done after the cattle breeds were brought here.

The first cattle of each of these breeds were brought to the US at the start of World War II, with the goal of ensuring survival regardless of the outcome of the war. Additional cattle were imported in the 1970s. Some of them started out in zoos, later being moved to farms and ranches. One of these farms was in Illinois, and there are still many British White Park cattle raised there. We bought our first cattle from a farm near Rockford, IL.

When we started our herd in 2003, we bought four White cattle, four black Galloways, and four Angus. Our idea was to see how each did with grazing and our management system. We sold the Angus after a few years, because the cows got too big. Their mature size was a third bigger than the other cattle and that means they need to eat a lot more just to maintain themselves.

Although we still have a couple of Galloways and one small framed Angus cow in the herd, we long ago determined that the Whites work best for us.

They calve easily, are good mothers, and produce plenty of milk for their calves. They do very well on the pasture and hay we give them, not needing any grain or other feeds to stay healthy and grow well. They cope well with extreme temperatures, both hot and cold. Very importantly to us, they are calm and docile and easy to handle. And as those of you who have visited the farm, some are even friendly enough to come up for a scratch.

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Newsletterwinter-2012-pages1&2.pdf

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Bill & Laura Paine,

Feb 11, 2012 9:23 AM