![British white](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/British_white.jpg)
The British White is a naturally
polled British
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
breed, white with black or red points, used mainly for beef. It has a confirmed history dating back to the 17th century.
Characteristics
![British White cow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/British_White_cow.jpg)
The British White has shortish white hair, and has dark points – usually black, but sometimes red. The coloured points include the ears, feet, eyelids, nose and often even teats. It is naturally
polled (hornless), medium-sized and compactly built. There may be some coloured spots on the body fur, and the skin beneath the fur is usually coloured (grey or reddish), or pink with coloured spots. The colour-pointed pattern is found in many unrelated cattle breeds throughout the world – it is an extreme pale form of the similarly widespread ''
colour-sided
Colour-sided or lineback is a type of fur pattern in domesticated cattle.
It consists of any solid body colour (such as black, red, or brindle) with white finching along the spine, along the underbelly, and over the tail, head, and legs. The e ...
'' or ''lineback'' pattern.
The red-pointed variant shows in about two per cent of British Whites, but since red colouration is
genetically recessive to black in cattle, many of the black-pointed animals also carry the red
allele
An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution.
::"The chro ...
.
The colour-pointed pattern shows strongly in crosses with other breeds, often with additional dark spotting if the other parent was solid-coloured. As in other cattle the polled characteristic is dominant over horns, so first crosses are also polled.
The breed is hardy and thrifty, and the animals readily
graze rough vegetation such as
rushes,
nettles or
heather, and they keenly
browse
Browsing is a kind of orienting strategy. It is supposed to identify something of relevance for the browsing organism. When used about human beings it is a metaphor taken from the animal kingdom. It is used, for example, about people browsing o ...
many trees and shrubs. They rarely have calving difficulties.
History
White cattle (often with black or red ears) are believed to have been highly regarded in Britain and Ireland in very early times, and herds of white cattle were kept as ornamental and sporting animals in enclosed parks for many centuries. They gave rise to the horned
White Park cattle, and contributed to the polled British White. However, British Whites are not as genetically distinct from other British breeds as White Parks are, and so there is some doubt about their exact origins; other breeds such as
Shorthorn
The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late eighteenth century. The breed was developed as dual-purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however, certain blood lines within the breed always emp ...
may have contributed to their development.
These cattle were kept in the Park of
Whalley Abbey
Whalley Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in Whalley, Lancashire, England. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey was largely demolished and a country house was built on the site. In the 20th century the house was modifi ...
, in the
Forest of Bowland
The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (however ro ...
near
Clitheroe
Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...
. After that time the major portion of the herd was moved to
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, in the early 19th century. This herd was sold off in small lots, largely to nobility in the surrounding countryside, and formed the basis of the British White breed. By the early 20th century these cattle had declined to about 130 registered animals, mainly in the eastern counties of England. By the end of the 20th century numbers had grown to over 1,500 registered animals in the UK and perhaps 2,500 in the US, as well as many in other parts of the world such as Australia, where the breed was first imported by Mrs A Horden in 1958. The UK
Rare Breeds Survival Trust
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust is a conservation charity whose purpose is to secure the continued existence and viability of the native farm animal genetic resources (FAnGR) of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1973 by Joe Henson to pres ...
lists it as a "minority" breed.
[Rare Breeds Survival Trust watch list]
accessed 21 May 2008
Breed organizations
In Britain, pedigrees are now maintained by the British White Cattle Society, although in the past British Whites and White Parks formed different sections in the same herdbook.
The British White Cattle Society of Australia governs the breed in that country. Its first Herd Book was published in 1985.
In North America the breed is represented by two separate societies, the British White Cattle Association of America and the American British White Park Association
American British White Park Association
official web site. (confusingly, the latter does ''not'' cover the horned White Park).
Similar breeds
*The White Park White Park may refer to:
;Places:
* White Park Bay, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK
* White Park, County Antrim, a townland in Northern Ireland, UK
* White Park (Concord, New Hampshire), a public park in Concord, New Hampshire, US
* White Pa ...
is very similar to the British White, being white with black or red points, but with white, dark-tipped horns. It is more rangy, and usually has somewhat less spotting and less dark on the points. Related, similarly-coloured types include the Chillingham and Vaynol cattle.
*Swedish Mountain or Fjäll cattle, a dairy type, may be colour-pointed.
*The Irish Moiled is a red colour-sided traditional breed from Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, – it may be white with red points, but it is more lightly built and of somewhat more dairy type than most British Whites.
*The Belgian Blue
The Belgian Blue (french: 'Blanc-Bleu Belge', nl, 'Belgisch Witblauw', both literally meaning "Belgian White-Blue") is a breed of beef cattle from Belgium. It may also be known as the , or nl, dikbil, label=none (literally "fat buttocks" in ...
(and its crosses) is often largely white with grey ears, but this heavily muscled, intensive beef breed is of very different type to the British White.
*Holstein cattle
Holstein Friesians (often shortened to Holsteins in North America, while the term Friesians is often used in the UK and Ireland) are a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-Hols ...
may be nearly all-white, and such cattle sometimes have black ear tips; again these intensive dairy cattle are of very different type to the British White.
*The White Galloway is a colour variety of the Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or ...
with dark points.
References
External links
*Oklahoma State University breed descriptions:
*
White Park
*
British White
*
American White Park
Shumard Oak Farmstead
{{British livestock, R.
Cattle breeds
Cattle breeds originating in the United Kingdom