Whitebred Shorthorns at Stanmer Park - geograph

Whitebred Shorthorn is a

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type of

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 ...

originating in north west

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and south west

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is derived from

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 ...

cattle, but is always white, rather than being the range of colours found in other Shorthorns. It has not undergone the specialisation seen in other Shorthorns (

Beef Shorthorn The Beef Shorthorn breed of cattle was developed from the Shorthorn breed in England and Scotland around 1820.Friend, John B., Cattle of the World, Blandford Press, Dorset, 1978, The Shorthorn was originally developed as a dual-purpose breed, ...

and

Dairy Shorthorn The Dairy Shorthorn is a British breed of dairy cattle. It derives from the Shorthorn cattle of Tees-side, in the North Riding of Yorkshire and in Northumbria (now divided between County Durham and Northumberland) in north-eastern England. ...

), and so it remains as a more traditional hardy and thrifty cattle type. This favours its use for

conservation grazing Conservation grazing or targeted grazing is the use of semi- feral or domesticated grazing livestock to maintain and increase the biodiversity of natural or semi-natural grasslands, heathlands, wood pasture, wetlands and many other habitats.

of hill pastures, grazing rank grass species to maintain a diverse

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

.Rare Breeds Survival Trust
/ref>

Uses

The Whitebred Shorthorn was developed to provide white Shorthorn bulls for crossing with black

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 i ...

cows.Whitebred Shorthorn Society history page
/ref> The offspring of this cross form a popular type, the Blue Grey, which has useful characteristics of both parents, and an intermediate blue roan colour. As this colour does not consistently breed true, Blue Greys are normally produced each generation from the parent breeds.

Breed history

While the exact origin is unknown the breed came to be noticed in the late nineteenth century when it was known as the Cumberland White. At that time Mr David Hall of Larriston,

Newcastleton Newcastleton, also called Copshaw Holm, is a village in Liddesdale, the Scottish Borders, a few miles from the border with England, on the Liddel Water. It is within the county of Roxburghshire. It is the site of Hermitage Castle. Newcastleton ...

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

, and Mr Andrew Park of Stelshaw, Bailey,

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

sold Blue-grey suckled calves at Newcastleton suckler sales. Numbers of Whitebred cattle, mainly bulls for cross breeding, increased after about 1900, until a separate day was needed at the Newcastleton auctions. The Whitebred Shorthorn Association was formed on 12 March 1962 by a meeting of almost 200 breeders. In the autumn of 1964 official breed society sales were held at Newcastleton and Bellingham and there was another successful Newcastleton sale in 1965. In that year the first sale of Whitebreds in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

was held at Botchersgate Mart. Breed association sales continue to be held in Carlisle, in spring and autumn, although numbers sold are now in single figures.

References

External links

UK Whitebred Shorthorn Association siteUK Rare Breeds Survival Trust page on Whitebred Shorthorn
Cattle breeds originating in England Cattle breeds originating in Scotland Cattle breeds Animal breeds on the RBST Watchlist {{cattle-stub