Beef Shorthorn

Breed of cattle

Cattle
Bos (primigenius) taurus

The Beef Shorthorn breed of cattle was developed from the Shorthorn breed in England and Scotland around 1820.^[1] The Shorthorn was originally developed as a dual-purpose breed, suitable for both dairy and beef production. However, different breeders opted to concentrate on one purpose rather than the other, and 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.

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 more than 1,500 registered breeding females are found in the United Kingdom.^[2]

References

^ Friend, John B., Cattle of the World, Blandford Press, Dorset, 1978, ISBN 0-7137-0856-5
^ Rare Breeds Survival Trust watch list Archived 31 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine accessed 21 May 2008

External links

American Shorthorn Association
Beef Shorthorn Society of Australia
Shorthorn Society of the United Kingdom and Ireland

Livestock breeds of the British Isles

Cattle

Beef cattle	Aberdeen Angus Beef Shorthorn Belted Galloway Blue Grey Devon Dexter English Longhorn Galloway Hereford Highland Lincoln Red Luing Shorthorn South Devon Sussex Welsh Black
Dairy cattle	Ayrshire Dairy Shorthorn Guernsey Jersey Kerry
Dual purpose	Albion British White Droimeann Irish Moiled Glamorgan Old Gloucester Pembroke Red Poll Shetland Whitebred Shorthorn
Primitive	Chillingham Wild Cattle Tory Island Vaynol White Park
Extinct	Alderney Blue Albion

Sheep

Extant	Badger Face Welsh Mountain Balwen Welsh Mountain Beulah Speckled Face Black Welsh Mountain Bluefaced Leicester Border Cheviot Border Leicester Brecknock Hill Cheviot British Milksheep Cambridge Cheviot Clun Forest Cotswold Dalesbred Derbyshire Gritstone Devon Closewool Devon and Cornwall Longwool Dorset Down Dorset Horn Easycare Exmoor Horn Galway Greyface Dartmoor Hampshire Down Herdwick Hill Radnor Kerry Hill Leicester Longwool Lincoln Llanwenog Lleyn Lonk Masham Norfolk Horn North Country Cheviot Oxford Down Portland Romney Rough Fell Ryeland Scottish Blackface Shetland Shropshire Southdown Suffolk Swaledale Teeswater Welsh Mountain Wensleydale Whiteface Dartmoor Whitefaced Woodland Wiltshire Horn
Primitive	Boreray Castlemilk Moorit Hebridean Jacob Manx Loaghtan North Ronaldsay Soay
Extinct	Devon Longwool Scottish Dunface South Devon

Pigs

Extant	Berkshire British Landrace British Lop British Saddleback Essex Gloucestershire Old Spots Large Black Large White Middle White Oxford Sandy and Black Tamworth Welsh Wessex Saddleback
Extinct	Cumberland Dorset Gold Tip Grice Irish Greyhound Pig Large White Ulster Lincolnshire Curly Coat Small Black Small White Yorkshire Blue and White

Goats

Poultry

Chickens	Croad Langshan Derbyshire Redcap Dorking Ixworth Indian Game Legbar Modern Game Modern Langshan Nankin Bantam Norfolk Grey Old English Game Old English Pheasant Fowl Orpington Rosecomb Scots Dumpy Scots Grey Sebright Sussex
Ducks	Abacot Ranger Aylesbury Orpington Khaki Campbell Magpie Shetland Silver Appleyard Welsh Harlequin
Geese	Brecon Buff Shetland

Agriculture in Scotland

Organisations

Culture

Industries

Fishing

History

History of agriculture in Scotland

Science and research

Land

Scottish
animal breeds

Cattle	Aberdeen Angus Ayrshire cattle Beef Shorthorn Belted Galloway Galloway cattle Highland cattle Luing cattle Shetland cattle Whitebred Shorthorn
Sheep	Border Cheviot Boreray sheep Castlemilk Moorit Cheviot sheep Hebridean sheep North Country Cheviot North Ronaldsay sheep Scottish Blackface Scottish Dunface Shetland sheep Soay sheep
Chicken	Scots Dumpy Scots Grey