The South Devon is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of large

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operat ...

. It originated in the

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

in south-west England, and is mentioned from the eighteenth century. It was a dual-purpose breed, kept both for its milk and for beef. Since 1972

selection Selection may refer to: Science * Selection (biology), also called natural selection, selection in evolution ** Sex selection, in genetics ** Mate selection, in mating ** Sexual selection in humans, in human sexuality ** Human mating strategie ...

has been for beef only.

History

The South Devon originated in the counties of

and

in south-west England: the earliest mentions of it are from the eighteenth century. How it developed is not known; one theory is that it arose from

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

between local

stock and

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

cattle such as the

Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...

. Unlike other British breeds, the South Devon carries the gene for haemoglobin B, which is also present in the Channel Island breeds. The South Devon Herd Book Society of England was formed, and published the first edition of the

herd-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders ...

in 1891. Some were exported to the United States in either 1936 or 1969,, and then again in 1974. A

breed society Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members of ...

was formed in 1972.

Characteristics

The South Devon is a large breed: bulls stand on average at the

withers The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle ar ...

, cows some less. The coat is curly and light red in colour; the cattle are both larger and paler than other British breeds of

red cattle Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to Orange (colour), orange and opposite Violet (color), violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the ...

. They may be either horned or polled; the horns are yellowish or white, and downward-curved.

Use

Until the early part of the nineteenth century the South Devon was a triple-purpose animal, kept for its milk, for meat and for

draught work A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for t ...

. Thereafter it was a dual-purpose breed, valued for its

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

qualities while the quality of the carcase was not high. In the early twentieth century, the average milk yield was over kg per

lactation Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The proces ...

; a good cow might give kg, and at least one reached kg. In 1974 the average lactation yield was kg, with a

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers spec ...

content of 4.19%; some cows exceeded kg. The conformation of the udder was not well suited to

mechanical milking Automatic milking is the milking of dairy animals, especially of dairy cattle, without human labour. Automatic milking systems (AMS), also called voluntary milking systems (VMS), were developed in the late 20th century. They have been commercial ...

, and from 1972

was for beef only. It is a large and fast-growing breed. In 1974 the average weight of bullocks at 400 days was , with an average height at the

of ; some animals reached more than in that time. In the twenty-first century the daily weight gain of bullocks in the first 400 days is approximately . Approximately 37% of the population carries the 11-bp

genetic mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mitos ...

which causes

bovine muscular hypertrophy Myostatin (also known as growth differentiation factor 8, abbreviated GDF8) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MSTN'' gene. Myostatin is a myokine that is produced and released by myocytes and acts on muscle cells to inhibit muscle ...

(or more properly

hyperplasia Hyperplasia (from ancient Greek ὑπέρ ''huper'' 'over' + πλάσις ''plasis'' 'formation'), or hypergenesis, is an enlargement of an organ or tissue caused by an increase in the amount of organic tissue that results from cell proliferati ...

), which in the area of origin of the breed is known as "buffalo". In affected animals this has the expected beneficial influence on carcase yield, and the expected detrimental effects on meat quality and on ease of calving.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Devon Cattle Cattle breeds originating in England Cattle breeds Red cattle Environment of Devon