It is hard to believe that such a strange looking animal was the main breed that was used by the early British and American beef industries.
Robert Bakewell, the famous agriculturalist, produced a particularly “improved” strain of these cattle. Bakewell was the first to utilize the “in and in” system of setting characteristics within a strain.
In a nutshell, Bakwell advised that a fine bull be bred to the finest cows, and then the finest heifers born of those breedings be bred back to their sire.
Such a system very quickly established traits within lines, and the English longhorn cattle grew into veritable beef monsters.
It was only when the shorthorn breed was “improved” in a similar fashion.
In my part of the world, beef shorthorns are called “Durhams.” That is partly because one of the early improved strains of beef shorthorn produced the “Durham Ox,” a true monstrosity. But it is mainly because the strain that produced this beef strain was actually derived from the landrace cattle of Durham in the North of England.
Today, the mainstay of the American beef industry is the “black angus,” which is what Americans call the black color of the Aberdeen-Angus cattle, which were developed along the east coast of Scotland. In North America, the black and red colors are maintained in separate registries, but throughout the world, the two are considered color varieties of the same breed.
Breeds rise and fall with the times. Sensibilities change. Markets grow, stagnate, and fall.
The English longhorn is quite rare today. Last time I checked, only one breeder in the US had a herd of these cattle.
“Durhams” can still be seen, but they are mostly a novelty. I knew that many people keep the roan coloration these cattle for no other reason than they are pretty.
But this is now a world for the black Alban cattle with no horns and very little brain.
In 50 years, it may be some other breed–that might not even exist right now– that replaces it.
That is the way these things go. Empires are built. They crumble. They fall.
***
The strangest cow I’ve ever seen was a Watusi bull that was gazing in a pasture of “black angus” and “Durhams.” To see an animal with horns like that was certainly unexpected.
This pasture was just west of the town of Glenville, West Virginia, just across the road from the Presbyterian church.
Watusi cattle are known for their long, thick horns, and in this part of the world, one very rarely sees cattle with horns. Horns cause trouble in pastures, stockyards, and cattle trucks. So they are either removed or the farmers raise polled breeds. (There are no ranchers east of the Mississippi. Don’t call them ranchers. They aren’t.)
That bull was truly a magnificent animal. He was wild and exotic, although a bit out of place.
***
One of the stories about cattle I heard growing up was the story of the Jersey steer who became a deer.
Some guys manage to lease some pastures in a remote part of West Virginia, and they turned out 15 head of various mixed cattle into the woods for a summer.
When the fall came, the men tried to round up all of their half-wild cattle and sell them at the stock sale. They managed to wrangle all but a single Jersey steer, who was so agile and quick and keen in his forest ways that he could escape.
When the novice cattlemen gave up on their endeavor, the Jersey was left alone in the woods– where he thrived.
Somewhere in his DNA, there was a wild aurochs bursting to come up, and he became as wily as any deer. He raided vegetable gardens and crapped in the river, just as any wild cow would do
He lived for three years as a wild creature, but one morning he happened to come upon some deer hunters, who promptly shot him. They had been told to shoot the feral nuisance, and when they saw him, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take down the wild Jersey of West Virginia.
