How am I going to make this Friday extra special when sharing info about cattle? By sharing not one, but two different breeds with you today... Aren't you just bubbling with excitement at the thought? (If not, then trot on by and go check out what Rosy and Sunny have been getting up to.)
The first of the pair to share is a breed with which I was totally unfamiliar. When looking at this black cow, at very first glance, I thought 'hoorah, there's some Aberdeen Angus here... but wait a minute...' Looking closer, it was the wrong conformation, rather more buxom than an AA cow would be. It also had that white tail tip and some white ankle socks. Very confusing. Then I spotted the cow lying beside it. As they were together, I had to assume they were from the same herd...
Turned out I was correct. A bit of enquiry followed up with my usual research tactics, and I am now a bit wiser about the British Blue.
In the same manner that the Charolais landed here and was bred then to British requirements, so it was that in the 1980s the Belgian Blue cattle were imported and bred to meet the needs of the British farm and market. 25 years were spent establishing the British-type Belgian Blue, and in 2007, the British-only herd book and society were established, making this a really very 'young' breed at barely 20 years of existence. Similar adaptations have taken place in other parts of the world. As you may assume from the excess muscling, these are mainly bred for beef, although there are herds now that take a dual-purpose, with the milk proving of value when crossed with Holstein and other dairy cattle. The BB is also considered to be well-tempered and docile for handling.
The second breed I am sharing today is the Red Poll.
Don't you just love that deep red colouring? They are among the prettiest of the cattle breeds, up there with the Highland, the AA, the Belted Galloway and the Hereford breeds (for me).
The Poll gets its name from its naturally hornless nature. This is a result of it being developed from crossing between the Norfolk Horn and the Suffolk Poll back in the eighteenth century. Thus, it is a fully British breed and fits the dual-purpose requirements of farming - beef and dairy. It is the dairy herd part of it that appeals to me, because this is one of the breeds that farmers like to keep on calf until weaning, rather than hauling the calves off the mothers at only two or three months. (Trust me, if you've ever heard the crying of the cows and calves as they are separated, you will never forget it... a grieving cow is one of the most heart and gut-wrenching sounds.)
These cows calve easily and are excellent mothers. The milk is considered high-quality for butter, so it is prized, although the yield may not be as high as from dedicated 'factory' milkers like the Holstein.
Like the Highland and other older native breeds, the Red Poll is a hardy line that can survive on whatever fodder is available, with little need to supplement its diet. This makes them excellent for conservation grazing - and they are an advantage in public spaces such as country parks, as they tend to accept the presence of people well and are less threatening to the unfamiliar by virtue of being hornless.
These are also pretty much ideal cattle for smaller farms seeking to work more ethically and peel back to some older practices... an example of that is lined up for next week's post, which will also be Filmclub day!
