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Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Use | formerly dual-purpose, now beef |
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Horn status | formerly horned, now polled [5] : 229 |
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The Lincoln Red is a British breed of red-coated beef cattle. It originates in, and is named for, the county of Lincolnshire in the eastern Midlands of England. It was selectively bred in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by crossing large local draught cattle of the region with Teeswater Shorthorns of medium size. [5] : 229 It was at first known as the Lincolnshire Red Shorthorn, and was a dual-purpose breed, reared both for milk and for beef. The polling gene was introduced in the early twentieth century, and the cattle are now usually polled; the word 'shorthorn' was dropped from the breed name in 1960. [5] : 229 In the twenty-first century it is reared for beef. [6] : 121 [7]
During the seventeenth century, draught cattle were brought from Holland to the eastern Midlands of England. These were large, coarse, powerful and rugged animals with large hooves and short horns, usually either red or red-and-white in colour. In his Cheape and good hvsbandry for the well-ordering of all beasts and fowles of 1631, Gervase Markham describes the cattle of Lincolnshire as pied, with more white than of other colours, and with little crooked horns. [8] : 55 [9] : 89 [7] John Mortimer, writing in 1712, refers to these as the "Dutch-breed". [8] : 55 [10] : 159
In the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth, cattle-breeders in Lincolnshire bought medium-sized red Shorthorn (also called Durham) cattle from the counties of Durham and Yorkshire, and cross-bred these with the local large draught cattle. [5] : 229 One such breeder was Thomas Turnell of Wragby, who well before the end of the century had a herd of cherry-red short-horned cattle of medium size, fast-growing and quick to put on weight; they were known as 'Turnell Reds'. [5] : 229 [11] : 48 Cattle of this type soon acquired a good reputation; from 1822 they were registered in Coates's Shorthorn herd-book. [5] : 229 In 1895 a breed society, the Lincoln Red Shorthorn Association, was formed, and within a year had published its own herd-book. By the 1920s the Lincoln Red Shorthorn was the second-most numerous registered breed in the country. [5] : 229
From the beginning of the Second World War until about 1956, a breeder name Eric Pentecost worked to introduce the polled gene to the breed while retaining its other characteristics; he first used a Red Poll bull, and later made use of Aberdeen Angus bulls, both black and red. [5] : 229 [12] : 15 The polled stock was first shown in 1956, and took several prizes; in the same year a polled Lincoln bull was licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture. [5] : 229 [12] : 15
They are now present in a number of countries around the world. These cattle were imported into Australia over 100 years ago and the Lincoln Red Cattle Society (Aust) was formed in 1971 with one registered herd. [13]
Lincoln Red cattle are a very dark red in colour that reduces the likelihood of sunburn and cancer. They do not have horns. They may be polled and are noted for their docility and an ability to thrive under all conditions.
The Red Poll is a dual-purpose breed of cattle developed in England in the latter half of the 19th century. The Red Poll is a cross of the Norfolk Red beef cattle and Suffolk Dun dairy cattle breeds.
The Aberdeen Angus, sometimes simply Angus, is a Scottish breed of small beef cattle. It derives from cattle native to the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine and Angus in north-eastern Scotland. In 2018 the breed accounted for over 17% of the beef production in the United Kingdom.
The Hereford is a British breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands of England. It was the result of selective breeding from the mid-eighteenth century by a few families in Herefordshire, beginning some decades before the noted work of Robert Bakewell.
The Longhorn or British Longhorn is a British breed of beef cattle characterised by long curving horns. It originated in northern England, in the counties of Lancashire, Westmorland and Yorkshire, and later spread to the English Midlands and to Ireland. It was originally a slow heavy draught animal; cows gave a little milk, although high in fat. In the eighteenth century Robert Bakewell applied his methods of selective breeding to these cattle, which for a short time became the predominant British breed. Both the numbers and the quality of the breed declined throughout the nineteenth century and for much of the twentieth. A breed society was formed in 1878, and a herd-book published in that year.
The Galloway is a Scottish breed of beef cattle, named after the Galloway region of Scotland, where it originated during the seventeenth century.
The Red Angus is an international breed of beef cattle characterised by a reddish-brown coat colour. It derives from the Scottish Aberdeen Angus population and is identical to it in all but coat colour. Red Angus are registered separately from black Angus cattle in Australia, Canada, and the United States.
The Dairy Shorthorn is a British breed of dairy cattle. It derives from the Shorthorn cattle of Teesside, in the North Riding of Yorkshire and in Northumbria in north-eastern England. The Shorthorn was for this reason at first known as the Durham or Teeswater.
The Afrikaner or Africander is an African breed of taurine-indicine cattle in the Sanga group of African cattle. It is derived from the cattle of the Khoikhoi (Hottentot) people which were already present in the area of modern South Africa when the Dutch East India Company established the Cape Colony in 1652.
The Belted Galloway is a traditional Scottish breed of beef cattle. It derives from the Galloway cattle of the Galloway region of south-western Scotland, and was established as a separate breed in 1921. It is adapted to living on the poor upland pastures and windswept moorlands of the region. The exact origin of the breed is unclear, although the white belt for which they are named, and which distinguishes the breed from black Galloway cattle, is often surmised to be the result of cross-breeding with the similarly-coloured Dutch Lakenvelder breed.
The South Devon is a British breed of large beef cattle. It originated in the counties of Devon and Cornwall 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 has been for beef only.
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 emphasised one quality or the other. Over time, these different lines diverged, and by the second half of the twentieth century, two separate breeds had developed – the Beef Shorthorn, and the Milking Shorthorn. All Shorthorn cattle are coloured red, white, or roan, although roan cattle are preferred by some, and completely white animals are not common. However, one type of Shorthorn has been bred to be consistently white – the Whitebred Shorthorn, which was developed to cross with black Galloway cattle to produce a popular blue roan crossbreed, the Blue Grey.
The Santa Gertrudis is an American breed of beef cattle. It is a taurine-indicine hybrid breed, descended from both zebu and European cattle. It was bred in the early twentieth century in Texas, and received official recognition in 1940. It has been exported to many countries including Australia, Brazil and South Africa, and has contributed to the development of a number of modern breeds, among them the Barzona and the Droughtmaster.
The White Park is a modern British breed of cattle. It was established in 1973 to include several herds or populations of colour-pointed white cattle – white-coated, with points of either red or black on the ears and feet. Such cattle have a long history in the British Isles, and the origins of some herds go back to the Middle Ages.
The Old Gloucester or Gloucester is a traditional British breed of cattle originating in Gloucestershire and surrounding areas in the West Country of England. It was originally a triple-purpose breed, reared for milk, for beef and for draught use; it is now a dual-purpose animal. It is an endangered breed, and its conservation status is listed as "priority" by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
The Japanese Brown is a breed of small Japanese beef cattle. It is one of six native Japanese cattle breeds, and one of the four Japanese breeds known as wagyu, the others being the Japanese Black, the Japanese Polled and the Japanese Shorthorn. All wagyu cattle derive from cross-breeding in the early twentieth century of native Japanese cattle with imported stock, mostly from Europe. In the case of the Japanese Brown, the principal foreign influence was from the Korean Hanwoo and Swiss Simmental breeds.
The Sussex is a British breed of red beef cattle from the Weald of Sussex, Surrey and Kent, in south-eastern England. Its traditional use as a draught ox on the Weald continued into the twentieth century. From the late nineteenth century it began to be selectively bred for beef production. It has been exported to many countries of the world; the largest population is in South Africa, where there may be half a million head.
The Droughtmaster is an Australian breed of beef cattle. It was developed from about 1915 in North Queensland by crossing zebuine cattle with cattle of British origin, principally the Beef Shorthorn. It was the first Australian taurindicine hybrid breed; it is approximately 50% Bos indicus and 50% Bos taurus.
The American Milking Devon is an American breed of dual-purpose cattle, reared both for milk and for beef. It derives from the Devon cattle of the United States, which in turn are derived from the North Devon cattle of south-west England. It was established as a separate breed in 1978 with the formation of the American Milking Devon Cattle Association, after the breeding aims of the Devon were concentrated almost exclusively on beef production. It is a rare breed: its conservation status is listed as by the Livestock Conservancy as 'critical'.
The Blue Albion was a British breed of cattle with an unusual blue roan coat. It originated in the English Midlands in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, and was a dual-purpose breed, reared both for beef and for milk. It became extinct following the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 1967.
The Japanese Shorthorn is a breed of small Japanese beef cattle. It is one of six native Japanese cattle breeds, and one of the four Japanese breeds known as wagyu, the others being the Japanese Black, the Japanese Brown and the Japanese Polled. All wagyu cattle derive from cross-breeding in the early twentieth century of native Japanese cattle with imported stock, mostly from Europe. In the case of the Japanese Shorthorn, the principal foreign influence was from the Shorthorn, with some contribution from the Ayrshire and Devon breeds.