AA #16: Ruddy Mootiful!
The cache, a camo-taped 35mm film canister, is hidden in a line of trees at the edge of a large field as the trail makes its way down towards Crow Trees Farm and the East Beck ford.
At the time of hiding the field was occupied by peacefully grazing cattle, including some very handsome red and roan ones . . .
*Mootiful = beautiful cow (a Tayberd descriptive!)
After online investigation in which it was discovered that there is an official UK list of 200 cattle breeds (the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) breed code list) for the purposes of individual animal registration and issue of cattle passports, it is believed that they are most likely beef shorthorns.
According to the relevant cattle society 'Beef Shorthorn is the native breed with a rich past, a dynamic present, and one that is fit for future purpose being highly suited to modern low input farming systems'.
The breed was developed from the Shorthorn breed which originated from Teeswater and Durham cattle in the NE of England in the late C18. At that time the Colling brothers, Charles and Robert, started to improve the Durham cattle using the selective breeding techniques that Robert Bakewell (a revolutionary agriculturalist) had used successfully on Longhorn cattle. He was the first to implement systematic selective breeding to improve cattle, horses and sheep.
The Shorthorn was originally developed as a dual-purpose breed, suitable for both dairy and beef production. However there were always certain bloodlines within the breed which emphasized one quality or the other.
Over time these different lines diverged and by the second half of the 20th century two separate breeds had developed – the Beef Shorthorn, and the Dairy Shorthorn. In 1958, the beef breeders started their own section of the herdbook. Since then, the Beef Shorthorns have been developed as a separate breed to the Dairy Shorthorns. All Shorthorn cattle are coloured red, roan or white (uncommon).
By the early 1970s, the Beef Shorthorn breeders were concerned their cattle were too small and lacked muscle, especially when compared with the continental breeds of cattle, such as the Charolais or Limousin - that were starting to be introduced to the UK.
To help remedy this, in 1976, the Beef Shorthorn Cattle Society sanctioned the introduction of Maine-Anjou blood into the breed. The Maine-Anjou breed, developed in France, was descended from the same Durham cattle as the Shorthorn. The decision to introduce Maine-Anjou blood into the Beef Shorthorn breed was very controversial at the time, but most breeders now acknowledge it was a necessary step which saved the breed from irrelevance. The herd book was closed to Maine-Anjou blood lines in 2001, except by introduction through the Grading Register.
The Beef Shorthorn breed is not considered at risk by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, since there are over 1,500 registered breeding females in the UK.
Today the breed is found mainly in English speaking countries, and South America. The main countries are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe. Beamish Museum in north-eastern England preserves the Durham breed.
In Ireland, the majority of Shorthorns are used for their suckler/beef capabilities, whereas in the UK the milking qualities of the breed have been developed. It is documented by Defra as the fastest growing native breed of cattle.
The importance of the Shorthorn breed in the development of other cattle breeds is enormous, and Shorthorn genetics have been used worldwide in the development of over 40 different breeds as crossbreeding with Shorthorn cattle 'offers increased calving ease, docility, fertility, growth and carcass quality'.
As one farmer observed 'We’ve found Beef Shorthorn to be such low input cattle, they cost very little to keep on pure forage diets; they make for great natural grazing animals on an extensive set stocking system, and overwinter on grass silage and mineral supplements. They literally calve themselves, the calves naturally get up and suck, and their dams make for good mothers, they want to look after their calves.
Docility is another asset. They are quiet and easy to work; which makes life easier when I’m working on the farm singlehanded'.
In 2022 the breed had its 200th anniversary - since 1822 when George Coates of Carlton, near Pontefract, Yorkshire, published the world’s first herd book of pedigree cattle, and the shorthorn, arguably the most globally influential breed of cattle, was formally born.
See short videos here (breed history and characteristics), here (the return of shorthorns to Althorp), here (2015 Stirling bulls show and sale) and here (Stirling Oct 2022 auction top sale at 16,000 gns).
