The Devon is a traditional 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 ...

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 opera ...

. It originated in, and is named for, the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers 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. Devo ...

in the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

of England. It is a deep rich red in colour, and so may be known as the Devon Ruby or Red Ruby; it may also be called the North Devon to distinguish it from the South Devon.

History

The Devon is a traditional breed of the

in the

of England. A herd-book was started by John Tanner Davy in 1850. A breed society, the Devon Cattle Breeders' Society, was formed in 1884, and took over management of the herd-book. By the early twentieth century the Devon was widespread. A

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

in 1908 found a population of close to 500,000, outnumbered only by the

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 ...

– of which there were about ten times that number.

In the United States

In Australia

Devons were popular for use in

bullock team An ox-wagon or bullock wagon is a four-wheeled vehicle pulled by oxen (draught cattle). It was a traditional form of transport, especially in Southern Africa but also in New Zealand and Australia. Ox-wagons were also used in the United States. T ...

s for hauling cedar and other logs from the forests, which was pit sawn and then transported by bullock drawn wagons and timber junkers to towns and seaports for cabinet making or export. These cattle were among the earliest breeds in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and Devons were noted for their docility, early maturing, hardiness and strength which were important attributes to have in a team.ABC Rural
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Characteristics

References

* Clive Thornton, (1993). ''Red Rubies: A History of the Devon Breed of Cattle'', Manchester: Gabriel Communications. . * Philip Walling (2018)
''Till the Cows Come Home: The Story of Our Eternal Dependence''
Chapter 11 * Albert Beer, Sean Beer (1998). Red Rubies: Jewels in Exmoor's Crown. ''Exmoor Magazine'', Issue No 4, Autumn 1998, pages 16–18. * J. Sinclair (1893). ''History of the Devon Breed of Cattle'', London. * John Tanner Davy (1869). ''A Short History of the Rise and Progress of the Devon Breed of Cattle'', Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Vol. 30, pp. 107–130. * Richard Trevor Wilson (2012)
The Rise, Fall and Restoration of a Native Breed of Domestic Cattle: The Devon Red Ruby of Southwest England
In: L. Marin and D. Kovač (editors) (2012). ''Native Species'', Nova Science Publishers, Inc., pages 57–83. {{British livestock, R. Cattle breeds originating in England Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy Cattle breeds Red cattle

History

In the United States

In Australia

Characteristics

References

Further reading