 |
Working Notes
|
http://redangus.org/association/history/ Shortly after
the turn of the nineteenth century many Scottish breeders looked
very favorably on the use of the improved Shorthorn breed as a
method to upgrade native stock. This crossing was so widely
practiced that unimproved Aberdeen Angus cattle of the region
were threatened with extinction. Since the first Angus Herdbook
was not published until 1862, it can be presumed that the
introduction of improved Shorthorn blood in the early part of
the nineteenth century had a positive impact on what was to
become the modern Aberdeen Angus breed.
ANGUS - RED OR BLACK?
Hugh Watson of Keillor, Scotland is universally recognized as
the father of the modern Aberdeen Angus breed. When he started
his farming activities in 1808, he received six of the "best and
blackest cows, as well as a bull" from his father's herd. That
same summer, he also visited the leading Scottish cattle markets
acquiring ten heifers and a bull that showed the Angus
characteristics he was striving to breed. According to Briggs,
"the (purchased) females were of various colors, but the bull
was black; Watson decided the color of his herd should be black
and he started to select in that direction." Although black
became the most desired color for the breed, because red is a
recessive gene, it would remain in the genepool.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14672/14672.txt
Bres exacting tribute in the form all milk from hornless dun
cows
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14391/14391.txt The
Tain, another interpretation
Early accounts have
suggested that hornless or polled cattle were introduced to
Ireland and Britain from Scandinavia by Viking settlers
(Wilson 1909). However, this theory is contradicted by
the presence of polled cattle in the Irish archaeological
record prior to the appearance of the Vikings
(McCormick 1987).
We report here biomolecular
http://www.ucd.ie/ascience/html/pages/academic/dmachugh/downloads/MacHugh_et_al.(1999).pdf
Cattle domestication in the Near East was
followed
by hybridization with aurochs bulls in Europe
Anders Go¨therstro¨m
http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/c_smith/pdf/Gotherstrom_et_alAurochs05.pdf
prevailing view that Near Eastern cattle populations
display higher genetic diversity because they have retained
more ancestral variation from their wild progenitors and
that populations in Europe have lost diversity as a
consequence of migration and repeated founder events
( Jorde et al. 1997; Troy et al. 2001). Furthermore,
introgression by B. indicus into the Near Eastern breeds
has undoubtedly contributed to the significantly elevated
diversity values (Loftus et al. 1999). However, previous
work has established that introgression alone does not
account for the increased diversity observed (Loftus et al.
1999).
The intense nature of animal breeding in Europe over
the past 150 years has undoubtedly also contributed to the
lower levels of genetic variation present in European
breeds. Modern breeding was introduced in northern
European countries first, allowing more time for this
technology to impact in this region; indeed within-breed
statistics give lower diversity in comparison with the south.
However, pooled population comparisons give a mixed
signal. Interestingly, the north Europe population as a
whole displays both more alleles and private alleles than
the south.
http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/253x5jvhlp6tut7g9j4k/contributions/e/c/x/e/ecxe32d4fnqj7qrw.pdf
Analysis of genetic relationships between 10 cattle
breeds with 17 microsatellites
To guide genetic conservation programmes with objective
criteria, general genetic variability has to be taken into
account. This study was conducted to determine the genetic
variation between 10 cattle breeds by using 17 microsatellite
loci and 13 biochemical markers (11 blood groups, the
transferrin and beta-casein loci). Microsatellite loci were
amplified in 31-50 unrelated individuals from 10 cattle breeds:
Charolais, Limousin, Breton Black Pied, Parthenais, Montbeliard,
Vosgien, Maine-Anjou, Normande, Jersey and Holstein.
Neighbor-joining trees were calculated from genetic distance
estimates. The robustness of tree topology was obtained by
bootstrap resampling of loci. A total of 210 alleles of the 17
microsatellites were detected in this study and average
heterozygosities ranged from 0.53 in the Jersey breed to 0.66 in
the Parthenais breed. In general, low bootstrap values were
obtained: with the 17 microsatellites, the highest bootstrap
values concerned the Holstein/Maine-Anjou grouping with an
occurrence of 74%; with the biochemical markers, this node had
an occurrence of 79% and the Charolais/Limousin grouping
appeared with an occurrence of 74%; when microsatellites and
biochemical polymorphism were analysed together, the occurrence
of the Holstein/Maine-Anjou grouping was 90% and that of the
Charolais/Limousin grouping was 42%. These
results suggest that 30 microsatellites, a number currently
considered as sufficient to distinguish closely related breeds
is, in fact, probably insufficient.
MoazamiGoudarzi, K, INRA,LAB GENET BIOCHIM &
CYTOGENET,F-78352 JOUY EN
JOSAS,FRANCE. ANIMAL GENETICS 28 (5): 338-345 1997 OCT
|
|
Department of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin,
Ireland.
Nineteen cattle bones from the Viking 10th and early 11th
century levels in Dublin were assessed for presence of reliable
genotypes from three autosomal markers. Due to the good
preservational condition of the samples, it was possible to
amplify and type at least two out of three of the microsatellite
markers (CSRM60, HEL1 and ILSTS001) in 11 specimens. Full
three-loci genotypes were obtained from a subset of seven of
these samples. A comparative analysis was performed using data
from the same three markers in 11 extant British, Irish and
Nordic cattle breeds. Although the medieval remains displayed
lower levels of diversity than the modern European breeds, the
results fit within the ranges obtained from the extant
populations. The results indicate a probable origin for the
ancient Irish cattle as the remains group significantly more
closely with breeds from the British Isles than with those from
Scandinavia. The data collected indicate that microsatellites
may be useful for the further study of ancient cattle.
Feasibility and utility of microsatellite
markers in archaeological cattle remains from a Viking Age
settlement in Dublin.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=14687070 |
|
| "By the 17th century well-known types of cattle existed in
England, one of which was the "pied" stock of
Lincolnshire, which was said to have been more white than
colored, and the other red stock of Somerset and Gloucestershire. .
."
www.lincolnredcattlesociety.co.uk Lincoln Red Cattle Society
link
LINCOLN RED CATTLE (Lincolnshire cattle improved with Durham and
Shorthorn genetics)
Gervaise Markham in his book, 'A Way to Get Wealth', remarked on
the "pyde" cattle "…their horns little
and crooked, of bodies exceedingly tall, long and large, lean,
strong hoved and indeed fittest to labour and draft."
During the late 18th and early19th century a number of
Lincolnshire breeders, most notably Thomas Turnell, brought in
cherry-red coloured Durham and York Shorthorn
bulls and heifers of medium size, some from the well known
herds of Robert Bakewell and the Collings brothers. These animals
were crossed with the local large, rugged, draught cows to improve
conformation. The resulting cattle became known as the Lincolnshire
Red Shorthorn.
In 1799 the breed was described by the Board of Agriculture "a
breed of cattle which are unsurpassed in this country for points
highly valuable and for their disposition at any age to finish
rapidly."
In 1822 the first volume of the Coates Herd Book distinguished
between the two types of Shorthorn. Then in 1895 The Lincoln Red
Shorthorn Association was formed and began publishing its own herd
book in 1896.
http://www.lincolnredcattlesociety.co.uk/?2+2
******************************************************************************************
". . . the Glamorgan was "... gener]ly a
muddy brown with white along the back
and belly. ''2 Youatt described Glamorgan cattle with white
faces, although it is likely that such animals contained some
Hereford blood. The Glamorgan breed was widely distributed
throughout Glamorgan, Monmouth, and Brecon, but according to Walter
Davies was only rarely to be seen west of the River Dulais where the
Pembroke breed predominated? The cows, which were particularly good
milkers, averaging I6-I 8 quarts per day, were held in lfigh regard
by George III. This notablejudge of stock had a herd of Glamorgan
cows on his Windsor farm for which he frequently drew replacements
from Welsh country fairs. Glamorgan oxen also were used for all the
carting, harrowing, and rolling in the King's park. 4 However,
neither Davies nor lead was particularly enamoured of the beef
potential of the Glamorgans, which "... are commonly handsome in the
forequarters but want for symmetry from the loins backwards." Read
complained that the Glamorgans "... had too often flat backs and
high rumps." In spite of these deficiencies in conformation
Glamorgan oxen were cap- able of achieving weights of I2-I4 scores
per quarter and of providing meat of very high quality. Edward
Williams (Iolo Morgarmwg), an enthusiastic devotee of the Glamorgan
breed, declared that the true Glamorgan animals were greatly
preferable to crosses with any other stock, mailxtaining that nine
out of every ten attempts at crossing had resulted in failure. He
regarded their docility and ... By the dose of the century the
effect of cross-breeding had been such that no pure Glamorgan herds
remained. However, repeated cross-breeding was not the sole cause of
the decline, and there is some evidence to support the assertion
that many farmers, particularly the more affluent ones, were selling
up their Glamorgan herds and restocking with Hereford or Shorthorn
cows quite early on in the century. Thus in a letter to the Farmer's
Journal in 1824, J. B. Smythe predicted that Here- fords and
Shorthorns would soon completely supersede the Glamorgan. In support
of this prediction he pointed out that two-year-old Hereford steers
had fetched between £5 and £IO more than six-year-old Glamorgans at
Tredegar Show. 2 That a price differential existed is certainly
true, but a study of contemporary farm accounts indicates that its
magnitude was considerably less than that suggested by Smythe. The
boom in corn production which accompanied the Napoleonic Wars was in
part responsible for the eventual disappearance of the breed. The
profitability of cereal growing was such that farmers in Glamorgan
ploughed every available and readily croppable acre, with the result
that the stock were relegated to less fertile corners of the farm
mid there they remained while the boom lasted. Thus stock
improvement was largely ignored, and existing stock were forced to
eke out a precarious existence on poorer pastures of the holding. 3
This situation was aggravated by the advanced demand for hay from
the pit owners of the South Wales coaltield which was such that it
was more profitable for a farmer to sell his hay for the sustenance
of pit ponies than to use it for cattle production. . .
Of the cattle of North Wales, the
Anglesey and Lleyn types were undoubtedly oft he greatest
importance. Indeed, the cattle of the remahlder of Caernarvonshire
and the highlands of Merioneth and Denbigh were, in the main,
diminutives of these two types. Davies stated that"An Anglesey runt
should be of coal-black colour with white
appendages, remarkably broad ribs, high and wide hips, deep
chest, large dewlap, flat face and long horns turning upwards. '' In
these respects the Anglesey was not dissimilar to the Castlemartin.
Evans, however, believed the for.mer to be "coarser in the forepart,
but having better . . .
"
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:KcWXaXrErswJ:www.bahs.org.uk/22n1a1.pdf+%22welsh+black%22+UK+breed+white&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=40&gl=us
http://www.projects.roslin.ac.uk/cdiv/accessdb.html
Access page to genetic database, use guest as user name.
http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/77/5/366
|
|
http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v93/n6/full/6800566a.html#tbl5
Breed relationships and definition in British cattle:
a genetic analysis
P Wiener1, D Burton1 and J L Williams1
1Roslin Institute (Edinburgh), Roslin,
Midlothian EH25 9PS, UK
Correspondence to: P Wiener, Roslin Institute
(Edinburgh), Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9PS, UK. E-mail:
pam.wiener@bbsrc.ac.uk
Abstract
The genetic diversity of eight British cattle breeds was quantified
in this study. In all, 30 microsatellites from the FAO panel of markers
were used to characterise the DNA samples from nearly 400 individuals. A
variety of methods were applied to analyse the data in order to look at
diversity within and between breeds. The relationships between breeds
were not highly resolved and breed clusters were not associated with
geographical distribution. Analyses also defined the cohesiveness or
definition of the various breeds, with Highland, Guernsey and Jersey as
the best defined and most distinctive of the breeds.
Heredity (2004) 93, 597-602.
doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800566
Published online 25 August 2004
Keywords
British cattle; breeds; diversity; microsatellites
Introduction
The concept of cattle breeds, rather than local types, is said to
have originated in Britain under the influence of Robert Bakewell in the
18th century (Porter,
1991). It was during that period that intensive culling and
inbreeding became widespread in order to achieve specific breeding goals
and this coincided with the shift from cattle as draught animals to
beef-producing animals. As a result of Bakewell's influence, British
cattle breeds are strikingly distinct from each other at the phenotypic
level and reflect a long history of intensive breeding. There are
approximately 30 distinct cattle breeds native to the British Isles.
These range from those selected for intensive dairy production, those
selected for beef production and those that remain relatively unselected
or selected primarily for breed phenotype (eg coat colour or pattern).
Probably more than any other region, British cattle breeding has had a
global influence and many British breeds have worldwide distributions.
Characterisation of closely related populations relies on multiple,
highly informative markers. Biochemical markers such as blood group
polymorphisms have previously been used to discriminate between European
cattle breeds (Kidd
and Pirchner 1971;
Kidd et al, 1980;
Grosclaude et al, 1990;
Blott et al, 1998). Microsatellite loci are more variable
than the biochemical markers and thus are potentially more powerful for
distinguishing between closely related groups, like human populations
and livestock breeds (Bowcock
et al, 1994;
MacHugh et al, 1994). Recently, a number of studies of
livestock breeds have used microsatellite markers to describe the
relationships between breeds and, where possible, the history of breeds
(Ciampolini
et al, 1995;
Moazami-Goudarzi et al, 1997;
MacHugh et al, 1994,
1998;
Kantanen et al, 2000;
Arranz et al, 2001;
Bjørnstad and Røed 2001;
Beja-Pereira et al, 2003).
The goal of this study was to use microsatellite markers to
characterise diversity levels within, and relationships between, a
number of British cattle breeds, most of which have not been
characterised previously. These breeds included some primarily used for
dairy production, some used for beef production, one reared extensively
and one that is primarily a show breed...........
FOLLOW LINK ABOVE FOR REMAINDER OF REPORT
|
| "Indeed
in Norse mythology there is one account of the creation of the world
beginning from a primeval cow, whose name Audhumla is thought to mean
‘Rich, hornless cow’. She existed before the gods along with the giant
Ymir, whom she nourished, and she licked the primeval ice-blocks until a
being called Buri emerged, from whom the gods were descended. Some think
that this is an Indo-European origin myth, and whether this is so or not,
it reminds us once again of the great and holy significance of the cow for
our ancestors in the North."
http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/Ocattle.htm
*************************************************************************************
IIt
is most likely that the forced inbreeding of the Chillingham cattle over
hundreds of years in their particular park enclosure, of which there were
many in the Middle Ages and beyond, has perpetuated and intensified their
extremely wild behavior, as well as their red points. Review of old
herd-keeper's records of the Chillingham cattle reveals the birth and
presence of black pointed cows and calves despite the Society's
postulations to the contrary. It's fairly easy to hypothesize that in the
Middle Ages the ancestors of these particular wild Chillingham cattle that
exist today were likely left behind because they were hard to catch and
move and thus less desirable -- unlike their gentler herd mates that were
the predecessors of the domesticated easy-keeping, docile, polled British
White herds in the USA, UK, Australia, and Paraguay; as well as the
limited horned White Park herds in the UK of today. The late
president and patron referred to above have made a point of perpetuating
this myth and embracing the White Park Cattle Society as true park cattle
descendants of these rangy, feral white cattle long emparked in
Chillingham. This will pass, and the social politics of the day will
change, and legitimate DNA testing will provide all that British White
breeder's wish for in validation of the ancient heritage of the their
chosen breed.
|
|
Highland cattle of western Scotland
are the most striking and enigmatic breed of the British Isles.
This hardy breed is believed to have grazed the rugged Scottish
landscape since at least the thirteenth century. Their long
shaggy coats and massive tapered horns are unmistakable and have
captured the interest and admiration of cattle breeders the world
over for generations, so much so that modem times have witnessed
their spread to mainland Europe, the United States and Canada.
Highland cattle are a prime example of the genetic diversity of
the breeds of cattle of the British Isles, a surprisingly more
diverse group than found in the breeds of northwest Europe.
|
|
It is well known that the different
forms of all cattle breeds are the descendants of wild oxen, also
known as aurochs. These formidable beasts once roamed over large
areas of the globe including mainland Europe and Great Britain.
However today they are no more, the last member of this proud
species died in Poland in 1627. About eight to ten thousand years
ago, aurochs were captured and domesticated in the Near East,
South Asia and possibly North Africa. Amazingly, all the great
diversity seen in modem cattle comes from the selective breeding
from just two or possibly three of the many domestication
locations. Even more surprising is that each domestication may
have involved the capture of just a few aurochs. Today they have
1300 million descendants.
|
|
Despite what we know, there remains
no shortage of questions about the exact origins and history of
some cattle breeds. For example, who are their ancestors and where
did they come from? How did a few small groups
of early domesticated cattle disperse to produce the multitude of
distinct breeds we see today? Is it possible
that a more recent mating between already domesticated cattle and
wild oxen has occurred? |
|
Historical records and archeology
can answer some questions but there seemed no way of addressing
others. That was, until recently. Now the science of genetics (the
study of inheritance) is allowing us to reach into the distant
past and learn about history. This is made possible by the steady
passage of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from generation to
generation, through time to every living thing from its ancestors.
The DNA of a sire and dam is combined to make up the DNA of their
offspring. Therefore, typically, the more similar DNA between
individuals the more closely related. The DNA of animals within
the same livestock species will differ less than those from
different species so DNA can be used accurately to establish
relationships between species.
Researchers at Trinity College
Dublin sequenced a portion of the mitrochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from
cattle breeds from Africa, India, Europe and the Near East. This
analysis shows that Highland cattle are most closely related to
the breed found in nearby Europe. Furthermore, when compared to
cattle from the rest of the world, British cattle, including
Highlands, appear to be descendants of the cattle that are present
in the Near East today. This leads scientists to believe that
cattle were domesticated in the Near East and migrated, with
ancient farmers, to Europe and the British Isles.
|
|
One mystery remains is how the
animals arrived at the British Isles. As small groups of animals
move away from a center of domestication to populate other areas,
genetic diversity levels are reduced and fewer types of DNA are
present. From this we would expect British cattle to have lower
levels of genetic diversity than breeds found in mainland Europe
and especially compared to their original Near East homeland.
Surprisingly this was not found to be the case. While British
cattle are indeed less diverse than those found in the Near East,
as expected, they have greater levels of mtDNA genetic diversity
than are seen in their neighboring breeds of Northwest Europe.
|
|
Because of this greater diversity
and the unique appearance of breeds such as Highlands, many have
speculated that the newly arrived domesticated cattle interbred
with their wild oxen relatives that were already in Britain.
Archaeologists have found bones of the same age from both domestic
cattle and the wild oxen in the same caves in Britain. This shows
that the two types clearly had contact with each other in ancient
times, leaving the possibility of interbreeding open. However, the
limits of archaeology were reached and there seemed no way of
proving or disproving this controversial idea.
|
|
There was only one way to solve this
puzzle; researchers undertook the difficult task of extracting
the few remaining fragments of DNA from ancient wild ox bones.
This would allow scientists to see whether the ancient genetic
code matched that of modem British cattle. Teams at Trinity
College Dublin and Oxford University worked for several years to
get the elusive piece of DNA needed. Eventually they succeeded.
Small pieces of maternal mtDNA were retrieved from bones that had
been excavated in England from geographically diverse sites of
different archaeological ages: Charterhouse Warren Farm Swallet,
Totty Pot, Carsington Pasture Cave, Bobs Cave, Goughs Cave and
North Ferry. The results show that today's British cattle,
including Highlands, are far more closely related to their modem
Near East cousins than to the aurochs that roamed in Britain in
the distant past.
|
|
After these first successful
efforts, other members of the research team examined the modem
Y-chromosome sequences. Y-chromosomes are passed directly through
the male lineage and provide a record of paternal genetic
history. If the male wild oxen had interbred with modem British
cattle, it would almost certainly be revealed by unusually
divergent Y-chromosome variation in these breeds. The results of
this analysis confirm the story of the mtDNA. None of the British
breeds have Y-chromosomes that appear unusually different from
those in the Near East. It is unlikely, therefore, that the unique
appearance of Highland cattle is the result of recent breeding
with British wild ox - it seems that the relationship between the
two was merely platonic! |
|
The question of the extra diversity
amongst British cattle remained. If the ancient British aurochs had
not interbred another explanation was needed. About ten thousand
years ago people started to switch from hunting wild animals and
gathering plants and berries where they could, to a settled life of
farming. This was a time when people in the Near East domesticated
cattle and many other livestock and plant species. This way of life
was so successful that it spread rapidly from there to other areas.
In Europe, it traveled along two main routes. First of these was
along the Mediterranean coast via Greece southern Italy and Iberia
(Spain). The second took a more northern path through the Danube
River valley, which is called the Danubian Route. As they traveled
along their separate paths, the types of DNA found in each became
different and some gene types were lost in each group. The
descendants of the brothers and sisters that left the Near East
along different paths were now distant cousins.
|
|
Farming first reached the shores of
Britain 5000 years ago but from where did it arrive? The Danubian
Route was the most likely candidate but the unexplained diversity
suggests another possibility. What if the increased diversity was
the result of the two distant cousins meeting in Britain? As each
group contained a different selection of genetic types, the two
together would be more diverse than cattle from just one of the
routes. Therefore, the genetic evidence implies that the ancestors
of British breeds have links to both streams that left the Near East
millennia ago. It seems that the meeting of these two distinct
genetic paths may be the cause of the high levels of diversity in
British cattle. As an ancient well established breed, Highland
cattle are undoubtedly one of the best examples of this early
British diversity.
|
|
Today the hope is that the field of
genetics, which has helped to unlock the past of this enigmatic
breed, may contribute to a thriving future. |
|
BAILEY
JF,
RICHARDS MB, MACAULEY VA, COLSON IB, JAMES IT, BRADLEY DG, HEDGES
RE, SYKES BC. (1996)
Ancient DNA
suggests a recent expansion of European cattle from a diverse wild
progenitor Species. Proc R Soc Lond Bioi Sci. Nov
22;263(1376):1467-73
|
|
BRADLEY, D.G., D.E.
MACH UGH, P. CUNNINGHAM AND R.T. LOFTUS.
(1996)
Mitochondrial
diversity and the origins of African and European cattle. Proc Natl
Acad Sci USA 93;5131-5135 |
|
BRADLEY D.G.&P.
CUNNINGHAM (1999)
Genetic aspects of
domestication. In "The Genetics of Cattle". Ed. R.Fries and A.
Ruvinsky. CAB International
|
|
FELlUS M.
(1995)
Cattle Breeds -
and Encyclopedia. Misset. Doetinchem, Netherlands
|
|
LOFTUS, R.T., D.E.
MACHUGH, D.G. BRADLEY, P.M. SHARP and P. CUNNINGHAM
(1994)
Evidence for two
independent domestications of cattle. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
91;2757-2761
|
|
SCHULTING, R.J.
(2000)
New AMS dates from
the Lambourn long barrow and the question of the earliest Neolithic
in Southern England: repacking the Neolithic package? Oxford Journal
of Archaeology 19;25-35
|
|
TROY,
C.S., D.E.
MACH UGH, J.F. BAILEY, D.A. MACGEE, R.T. LOFTUS et al. (2001)
Genetic evidence for Near East origins of European Cattle. Nature
410: 1088-1091 |
Date Created: 1/9/2005
|
|
n Glenlyon there was, too, a tradition that
a race of white cattle had flourished there long before 1700. Cameron
remarked that whether later white markings came from those cattle, or from
"foreign" blood secured during the "lifting" times, could not be
determined.
http://www.highlandcattleusa.org/highlandstories.asp?articleid=17
http://www.northeastengland.talktalk.net/index.htm Excellent
coverage of the Timeline of historical events in the history of Britain
that will
be of great value in research and defense of position that British
Whites (white cattle with black and red points) are of indigenous origin
to the
British Isles and rightly have their place in ancient Celtic
literature, not because they'd heard of them being on the mainland and
simply
considered them special, but fact is the Irish and Scottish and
Welsh of Modern day are much more distinctly related genetically to the
many indigenous British tribes that warred with the Romans for
centuries, they inhabited the British Isles north to south prior to Roman
invasion, and are perhaps the only true Britains in the whole
of the United Kingdom, and it stands to good logical reason that we find
old fairy tales and legends amongst the
Welsh, Irish, and Scottish folklore, there is no reason for them to
be present in modern day British folklore, even the story of Robinhood
is considered by many Irishmen to have been robbed from them.
Jessica Hemmings rightly arrives at the conclusion that the 'white
cattle with red ears' of legend did in fact exist and must have
predated the Romans.
 | $1
MILLION GRANT\AWARDED FOR CATTLE GENOME RESEARCH:
Dr. James Womack,
director of the Center for Animal Biotechnology and Genomics at Texas
A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine, has been awarded a $1
million research grant from the Robert J. and Helen
C. Kleberg Foundation, which will allow researchers to study the
differences in cattle breeds and
individual cows. Genetic differences in reproduction, lactation, growth,
bone structure, fat deposition, altitude and heat tolerance, and
resistance to specific pathogens will be studied. The grant research
"will be invaluable in clarifying physiological processes important to
human health," he said.
PDF |
CALM CALVES
HAVE IMPROVED IMMUNOLOGICAL RESPONSE—Calm-natured calves appear
to have a better response to vaccination at weaning than temperamental
calves, according to scientists with the Texas Agricultural Experiment
Station. This better vaccination response means the calmer calves are less
likely develop sickness or die of disease, said Dr. Ron Randel, Experiment
Station scientist based at The Texas A&M University System Agricultural
Research and Extension Center at Overton. Earlier work done by Randel and
others have proven that cattle that speed out of the handling chute ate
and gained less, and even yielded tougher steaks.This study is one of the
first that looks at the animal's immune response in relation to
temperament, Randel said.
PDF
(8/14/2006)
Picture didn't keep, try again
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14415/14415-h/14415-h.htm SOURCE
"We now bade good-bye to the River Dove, leaving it to carry its share
of the Pennine Range waters to the Trent, and walked up the hill leading
out of the town towards Abbots Bromley. We soon reached a lonely and
densely wooded country with Bagot's Wood to the left, containing trees of
enormous age and size, remnants of the original forest of Needwood, while
to the right was Chartley Park, embracing about a thousand acres of land
enclosed from the same forest by the Earl of Derby, about the year 1248.
In this park was still to be seen the famous herd of wild cattle, whose
ancestors were known to have been driven into the park when it was
enclosed. These animals resisted being handled by men,
and arranged themselves in a semi-circle on the
approach of an intruder. The cattle were perfectly white, excepting their
extremities, their ears, muzzles, and hoofs being black, and their long
spreading horns were also tipped with black. Chartley was granted
by William Rufus to Hugh Lupus, first Earl of Chester, whose descendant,
Ranulph, a Crusader, on his return from the Holy War, built Beeston Castle
in Cheshire, with protecting walls and towers, after the model of those at
Constantinople. He also built the Castle at Chartley about the same
period, A.D. 1220, remarkable as having been the last place of
imprisonment for the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, as she was taken
from there in 1586 to be executed at Fotheringhay."
Link doesn't work, need to find a new reference:
". . . where [the god] Clitumnus overspreads the lovely streams
with his sacred grove, and with his waters washes the snow-white kine
(cow). . . "
Mevania, Italy - 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
|
Brighid (Brid,
Brigid, Brigindo, Brigandu, Brigan, Brigantia, Brigantis, Bride) is a
Celtic Triple Goddess. As the fire of the hearth she is the patroness
of healing; as the fire of the forge she is the patroness of
smithcraft; and as the fire of inspiration she is the patroness of
poetry. She was a multi-talented and multi-functional goddess who was
the planetary goddess for the Lyrans on the former planet Brighid,
(whose planetary animal totem was the cow/bull), which was blown up
and is now the asteroid belt. An important member of the Tuatha Dé
Danann who travelled on a big cloud to Ireland, she is the patroness
of Druids. Wells, apples, and oak trees are sacred to Brighid whose
triune flame ignites the regenerative promise of spring during the
festival of Imbolc (February 1-2 North; August 1-2 South) when she
welcomes a new cycle of healing growth after banishing the bindings of
winter.
Cadmus the Phoenician
http://phoenicia.org/cadmus.html
Taught the Greeks the Phoenician Alphabet and Founded Thebes
Cadmus' Sister, Europa Kidnapped
............When his sister, Europa was carried away by Zeus in the
form of a bull, he went to the oracle at Delphi to ask about her and
was told she was happy and well, and he need not search for her any
longer. Instead, he should stay in Greece and found a new kingdom,
he was told. A white cow would lead him to a good site for a walled
city.
When
Cadmus left Delphi, he soon ran into a white cow. He followed her a
long way, over hill and mountain, through valleys and across rivers.
Finally, the cow lay down on a knoll in the middle of a large
plain-the perfect spot for a walled city. Then Cadmus sent one of
his men to get water from a nearby spring. While he was gone, Cadmus
sacrifice the cow to thank the gods. When the man he sent never
returned, he sent two more men to see what had happened. They did
not return either and he sent the rest of his men, a few at a time,
after the others. Finally, he was left alone and went to see for
himself what was keeping his men. When he reached the spring, he saw
a dragon guarding the spring. At first, Cadmus was afraid it would
eat him too, but the dragon was very sluggish and sleepy after
eating so many men and Cadmus slew the dragon easily.........
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Cattle, the Most Useful Animal of
Ancient Egypt by Jimmy Dunn,
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/cattle.htm
"The colors of Egyptian cattle, based on painted scenes, included
black, brown, brown and white, black and white, white spotted with
black and pure white.
 ".......With
cattle having been established early on in Egyptian history, the
herdsmen were obviously educated in their care and maintenance.
Certain bulls were kept for breeding purposes which show their
awareness of fundamental breeding practices, and we also know that
they understood how to assist the cows in calving. Furthermore, the
Kahun (gynecological) Papyrus also deals with cattle diseases, which
provides evidence that some physicians also possessed veterinary
skills. Many of the priests associated with the cult of the goddess
Sekhmet
were medical physicians, but we are told that they also "knew
cattle".
".......This also necessitated providing the cattle with supplemental
nutrients such as protein and amino acids, and from tomb scenes, we
find that one method was hand feeding them fresh green produce and
bread dough, which became important supplements in the dry season or
anytime when green grasses became unavailable. This provided important
minerals and proteins that dried grasses did not. However, it must be
pointed out that such feeding, though a good supplement for range fed
cattle, was impractical for all cattle. To supplement the cattle in
vast herds would have placed cattle in direct competition with humans
for the same foodstuffs. Hence, evidence suggests that at least some
cattle herds were driven to better pastures in the marshlands of the
northern Delta."
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DINEFWR
CASTLE & PARK, LLANDEILO
http://www.terrynorm.ic24.net/dinefwr%20castle.htm
(by
Sian Rees 1992; Sian Jones 1995)
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Dinefwr Castle, high on its crag high above the river Towy in
Llandeilo |
Dinefwr
is of paramount importance in Welsh history as the seat of the Welsh
rulers of Deheubarth, the medieval principality of south-west Wales.
The rocky crag with its commanding view over the wide Twyi valley may
have seen occupation in prehistoric periods, and Roman artifacts have
been uncovered from various parts of Dinefwr park. The place-name
appears in the Welsh law codes, which suggest that, early in Welsh
history, the site was the principal possession of the south Wales
royal house. The early importance of Llandeilo as the probable site of
St Teilo's monastery gives further weight to Dinefwr's claim to be an
early medieval centre of political power. According to legend, the
first Dinefwr Castle was built by Rhodri Mawr (Note 1) - King of Wales
in the 9th century. By 950 A.D., Dinefwr was the principal court from
which Hywel Dda ("The Good") (Note 2) ruled a large part of Wales
including the southwest area known as Deheubarth. His great
achievement was to create the country's first uniform legal system.
The
Legend of The Sirloin (Some white park sites claim it was
White Park beef that James the First was dining on.....source of that
claim would be what?)
“Dining with the Abbot of Reading, [Henry VIII]
ate so heartily of a loin of beef that the abbot said he would give 1,000
marks for such a stomach. "Done!" said the king, and kept the abbot a
prisoner in the Tower, won his 1,000 marks, and knighted the beef.”
“King James First, who loved good eating, being
invited to Dinner by one of his Nobles, and seeing a large Loyn of Beef at
his Table, he drew out his Sword, and in a frolic knighted it…………….”
While it is certainly possible that one or more kings
of England have repeated this pun, the joke cannot be the source of the
word "sirloin," which appeared in English as far back as the mid-sixteenth
century, antedating the ascension of both King James and Charles the
Second (save Henry VIII) to the throne.
More importantly, though, it was not until the
eighteenth century that the word "sirloin" came to be commonly spelled
with an "i" — until then it was generally written as "surloin," indicating
that it came from the Middle French surlonge (sur meaning "over" and longe
meaning "loin"), just as the word "surname" came from the same French root
(sur), indicating a family name that was used "over" (i.e., in addition
to) one's Christian name.
British Govt
proposes to kill 1 million cattle
Reporter: Matt Peacock
STUART
HOBSON JONES: Well British beef is, I believe, some of the best beef in
the world. I mean, I'm an Australian, and I've, you know, grown up with
it, and I've had arguments with the chefs in Australia about grass fed
versus grain fed and all this sort of stuff that goes on with it. The fact
is that we've got some of the best original breeds of beef that have ever
been in the world.
I mean, in this country we have, the white park, which was knighted by
King James to become the sirloin, I mean that's the original breed. So
we're talking about stuff which has been around for a long, long time.
They're good eating cattle, and, they've got huge different flavours, like
good wines. So, I, that's why I think you come here.
Somewhere like here, you know where the beef's come from, and that's,
that's the big thing.
************************************************************************************
CHARLES DARWIN
http://www.whiteCHARLES
DARWIN-works.com/relax.htm
"In the third chapter it was shown that at an ancient period some breeds
of cattle in the wilder parts of Britain were white with dark ears, and
that the cattle now kept half wild in certain parks, and those which have
run quite wild in two distant parts of the world, are likewise thus
coloured. Now, an experienced breeder, Mr. J. Beasley, of Northamptonshire
(13/28. 'Gardener's Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette' 1866 page 528.),
crossed some carefully selected West Highland cows with purely-bred
shorthorn bulls. The bulls were red, red and white, or dark roan; and the
Highland cows were all of a red colour, inclining to a light or yellow
shade. But a considerable number of the offspring--and Mr. Beasley calls
attention to this as a remarkable fact--were white, or white with red
ears. Bearing in mind that none of the parents were white, and that they
were purely-bred animals, it is highly probable that here the offspring
reverted, in consequence of the cross, to the colour of some ancient and
half-wild parent-breed. The following case, perhaps, comes under the same
head: cows in their natural state have their udders but little developed,
and do not yield nearly so much milk as our domesticated animals. Now
there is some reason to believe (13/29. Ibid 1860 page 343. I am glad to
find that so experienced a breeder of cattle as Mr. Willoughby Wood,
'Gardener's Chronicle' 1869 page 1216, admits my principle of a cross
giving a tendency to reversion.) that cross-bred animals between two
kinds, both of which are good milkers, such as Alderneys and Shorthorns,
often turn out worthless in this respect.
****************************************************************************
Similar breeds in cattle
White Cattle - British White
http://www.tiho-hannover.de/einricht/zucht/eaap/groups/c9_1.htm (The
EAAP confuses and contradicts itself!)
Origin and development:
Autochthon Park Cattle; introgression since 1960 from Galloway,
Shorthorn, Fjall
Herdbook established: 1918
OR
"White Park is an ancient breed. British White was formed by White Park
and White Shorthorn. White Bred Shorthorn is a colour-selected line of
Dairy Shorthorn.
The UK needs to address this misrepresentation!
********************************************************************
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Scotland’s legendary, long extinct, shaggy wild white cattle (Bos
longifrons)–which look amazingly like white bison–were also ancestors, as
were “forest bulls”
The Ogham Tract
76 - Soma PavamanaDropping
with oil, abundant, streams of sacrifice flow to him like milch-kine,
lowing, with their milk. [1]
On flows that Ancient One whom, hereward, from heaven, sped through
the region of the air, the falcon snatched.
The beginning of wisdom is to call
things by their right names.
- Chinese
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| Abstract (Hemming Article 2002?) Many medievalists, especially scholars of Celtic
literature, have observed that red-eared white animals are associated with
fairies and other supernatural beings. What has not been satisfactorily
answered is why this should be so. This article offers a possible
explanation, suggesting that this widespread phenomenon is rooted not in
fantasy but in zoology.
**********
It is a commonplace of Celtic [1] folklore that
white animals with red ears come from the Otherworld. Cattle of this
description occur in some of the earliest Irish sources, while similarly
marked dogs accompany the king of Annwn (the Welsh Otherworld) in the
Middle Welsh tale of Pwyll and are reported right into this century. In a
presentation to the Folklore Society in 1928, Miss Moore Douglas said of
the Isle of Man that "fairy dogs, usually white with red ears and feet,
are frequently seen running across the fields in the evening" (Howey 1972,
350), and Marie Trevelyan reported that the Welsh Cwn Annwn were sometimes
seen as "very small dogs, white as the drifted snow, with tiny ears quite
rose coloured inside" (Trevelyan 1909, 47). There also seems to have been
a particular fashion for red-eared white horses in the thirteenth century,
especially in Arthurian material, but also in at least one Norse saga
where the motif is almost certainly borrowed from Ireland (Loomis 1949,
90; Turville-Petre 1953, 248-9). The present discussion will be limited to
cattle, as they are the earliest attested animals of this type and as dogs
and horses seem to have only acquired this colour pattern by analogy.
Red-Eared White Cows in Medieval Irish and Welsh
Sources
The earliest accounts of red-eared white cows are
in certain of the Irish heroic tales, including, naturally enough, some of
the cattle raids. In the Tain Bo Fraich, the hero's mother gives him
"twelve cows out of the fairy-mound, and they white with red ears" (lines
5-6. My translation). [2] In the Tain Bo Cuailnge, the war goddess known
as the Morrigan transforms herself into a white heifer with red ears when
she tries to destroy Cu Chulainn. In the Compert Mongain ocus Serc
Duibhe-Lacha, the hero foolishly promises away his wife in return for the
king of Leinster's beautiful red-eared white cattle (Meyer 1895, 75).
There are further references to these cattle--always noted for their
beauty or purity and frequently specified as coming from the fairy
mounds--in Tochmarc Etaine, Tain Bo Regamna, Caith Maighe Lena, and the
lives of Saints Brigid, Ailbhe, Mo Lua, Columcille, Finian and Ciaran. The
twelfth-century Metrical Dinshenchas also contain a place name stanza
about Howth which mentions "seven hundred kine, red eared, pure white."
[3] Finally, in one of the Irish law tracts, the penalty for satirising
King Cernodon of Ulster includes "seven white cows with red ears" (Dillon
1932, 54). Apart from this last item, the Irish references are all purely
literary. Either explicitly or implicitly, they associate these cattle
with the Otherworld; at the least, they have a generalised magical aura.
So why does white with red ears indicate fairy origin?
There seem to be two main choices of explanation.
First, it may be that these are entirely fanciful beasts, associated in
the imagination and in fantastical literature with Otherworldliness
because red and white are both "magical" colours. The case is clear enough
for white. In many cultures, white is variously connected with holiness,
with ghosts, or with sacrificial animals. Most relevant in this context is
the polysemy of the words for "white" in Celtic languages. Welsh gwyn is a
good example, carrying the primary meanings "white, bright, shining, fair"
and the secondary meanings "holy, blessed." Red is a bit more problematic.
In his classic discussion of Anglo-Saxon magic, G. Storms gives evidence
for red having been a magic colour in ancient Germanic society (Storms
1948, 102-3). This may be relevant to the early medieval Irish and Welsh,
but we just do not know. Comparative studies of more recent British
folklore suggest that red, white and black are typically the most
symbolically significant colours, but again this provides no real
information about their importance in medieval Ireland and Wales
(Hutchings 1991, 57-8). The second option is that red-eared white cattle
really did exist and were believed to come from the Otherworld because
they were rare, or unusual, or of special value in some other way. This
seems much the better explanation, for two reasons.
First, in addition to the imaginative Irish
examples, there are a couple of other mentions of these special cattle,
which make them seem rather more real. The first is an often-cited passage
in the thirteenth-century Iorwerth Redaction of the Welsh laws in which
the sarhaed (or payment due for insult) of the king of Aberffraw is set at
"a hundred cows for every cantred he has, with a red-eared [white] bull
for every hundred cows," plus some very precisely-measured pieces of gold
(Jenkins 1990, 5). [4] The Cyfnerth and Blegywryd redactions add the
following: "The status of the lord of Dinefwr is also adorned with white
cows, each with its head to the tail of the next, with a bull between
every twenty of them, so as to fill the space from Argoel to the court of
Dinefwr" (Jenkins 1990, 6). It seems unlikely that the laws would specify
payment in imaginary animals. Also, according to the Reverend John Storer,
the entry for the year 1211 in Holinshed's chronicle reports that the wife
of William de Braose (a powerful Norman baron with lands in Wales) gave to
the queen of England "a gift of foure hundred kine and one bull, of
coulour all white, the ears excepted, which were red" (Storer 1879, 107).
[5] Evidently this was insufficient, as King John was to murder Matilda de
Braose and her eldest son, but one may presume that the cattle were real.
Finally, a custom current at Stretton-on-Dunsmore in Warwickshire at least
until the 1870s required the villagers to pay "Wroth or Ward money" to the
lord of the Hundred of Knightlow. In default they would forfeit "twenty
shillings for every penny, and a white bull with red ears and a red nose"
(Storer 1879, 104). Storer, who recorded this custom in 1874, said that
local tradition claimed that it pre-dated the Norman Conquest. While this
is, of course, unverifiable, it does at least suggest a practice of some
generations' standing.
The Chillingham Wild White Cattle
The other compelling reason to suppose that the
fairy cattle are based on real ones is that red-eared white cattle still
exist today. Up until the last century there were several herds, including
one at Dinefwr as the Welsh laws suggest, but now there is just one, at
Chillingham in Northumberland. [6] Although a fair amount has been written
on these cattle (much of it simply repeating Storer), trying to get any
scientifically sound information about the Chillingham herd leads one into
remarkably convoluted myths of origin and purity, evidently bound up with
the prestige of the noble family to whom the animals belonged until a
private association was formed in 1939 to manage the stock. However, there
are a few basic, uncontroversial facts. First of all, I visited these
cattle in 1997 and can confirm that they are quite clearly white with
surprisingly red ears. The other obvious feature is that they are a
primitive, unimproved breed, not specialised for either beef or dairying.
Proper records only go back to 1689 when a steward's account notes the
purchase of a white calf (perhaps with red ears, perhaps not). The next
mention is in 1692: the same steward counts "Beasts in ye Parke my
Lords--16 white wilde beasts, 2 black steeres and a quy [heifer], 12 white
read and black eard, 5 black oxen and browne one" (Mackenzie 1825, 390).
[7] It is noteworthy that of the twelve with coloured ears, some have red
and some black ears. There are still a number of herds of White Park
Cattle scattered around the country and these typically have black ears.
The White Park is a registered breed and, despite some popular confusion,
is genetically distinct from the highly inbred Chillingham herd. The
latter are distinct from everything, a fact which many have regarded as
proof of their ancient origin. However, it may have as much to do with
their long enclosure and the bad winter of 1947 when the herd was reduced
to thirteen individuals, thus creating a genetic bottleneck from which the
animals were lucky to recover.
The uniqueness of the herd in the view of the
Chillingham Wild Cattle Association, is that they are genetically pure,
ancient, and wild. They certainly are wild in temperament now and may have
been so since the park was enclosed in the 1220s, which may or may not be
when the ancestors of the present herd got locked in. However, I should
stress that their origin is still entirely unknown. And this is where the
pseudo-magical Chillingham foundation myth comes in.
To provide some background, in the Upper
Palaeolithic, after about 13,000 B.C., humans and large land mammals
crossed the then-existing land bridge from the Continent into Britain in
the wake of the retreating ice (Grigson 1982, 47). Among these large
animals was the prehistoric forerunner of all domestic humpless cattle:
the aurochs (Bos primigenius). Cave paintings and archaeological finds of
aurochs remains in association with human settlements make it abundantly
clear that Palaeolithic people hunted these wild cattle. About the sixth
millennium B.C., some aurochsen were domesticated in the north-west
Mediterranean, and by the early Neolithic period (probably in the fourth
millennium B.C.), domestic cattle were introduced into Britain (this
happened in the late Neolithic in Ireland). These very early domesticated
beasts looked much like aurochsen; they were large and of very similar
morphology. Cattle then diminished in size steadily right through the Iron
Age (probably due to the human population's poor knowledge of husbandry).
In the meantime, the aurochs disappeared from Britain c. 2000 B.C., never
having made it to Ireland at all. Aurochsen lingered on in continental
Europe until the seventeenth century, when the last one was shot in
Poland. The points to bear in mind about British cattle are: (1) aurochsen
disappeared well before the insular Iron Age; (2) Iron Age (so-called
"Celtic") cattle were very small and probably represent the parent stock
for all modern British and Irish breeds (Grigson 1982, 47); (3) after the
demise of the aurochs there were never again any truly wild (as opposed to
feral) cattle anywhere in Britain.
Bearing these points in mind, let us return to
the Chillingham myth. I use the term "myth" advisedly, to mean not
"falsehood" but a belief deeply held and symbolically meaningful although
not necessarily rooted in scientific "truth." The story one hears during a
visit to the cattle park, and in many of the nineteenth-century accounts,
is virtually a sacred origin myth. The basic account that the Chillingham
Wild Cattle Association presents to the public, in evident good faith, is
that aurochsen migrated over the land bridge to roam prehistoric Britain
until they gradually died out in all but the most thickly forested and
inaccessible regions. They dwindled finally into a few herds of wild
northern beasts, one of which was enclosed at Chillingham in the
thirteenth century. For example, during the park tour, the warden stresses
that they did not come on Viking longboats. Similarly, the Association's
long-standing, but sadly late, president, the Hon. Ian Bennet, has stated
categorically (in private correspondence) that the cattle have been proven
by blood-typing to be unrelated to Roman cattle and must therefore
antedate the Romans. The Dowager Countess of Tankerville, who is the
Association's patron, has also written an information leaflet in which she
says:
the shape of the skull and the manner in which the horns grow out from it
are similar to the Aurochs (bos primogenius [sic]) and quite different from
the skull of the Roman importation (bos longifrons). It is thought by many
therefore that the Chillingham Wild Cattle are the direct descendants of
the original ox which roamed these islands before the dawn of history.
The three things constantly stressed by the
Association, both in publications and in general information given to
tourists by the warden, are that the cattle are always white, have never
been domesticated, and are related to the aurochs in some more direct way
than are modern breeds. Their wildness and the mystery surrounding their
ancient origin are highlighted even in the physical approach to the park.
In the film Jurassic Park, the visitors enter on a narrow road with
electric security fences on either side and, although no dinosaurs appear
for about ten minutes, there is a gradual build-up of expectation as the
people move further in between high walls of vegetation. Chillingham Wild
Cattle Park is a bit like that. Notices advise that the cattle are
dangerous and that one must stay on the path, which starts off with a long
climb through the woods and then emerges onto high pasture. There are wire
fences on either side and there is no way of telling where the wild cattle
might be. Finally, one reaches a hut where the warden comes to start the
tour and tell the tale of the origin of the cattle. [8]
Problems with the Chillingham Origin Myth
So, what is strange about the Chillingham story?
Obviously, the theory that aurochsen survived down the ages is incredible.
The insistence that the animals must be pre-Roman is also unfounded. There
have indeed been genetic studies which suggest that the Chillingham cattle
are not related to Roman stock and there is no historical record of
substantial Roman importation of cattle into Britain. However, this lack
of relationship to Roman cattle does not at all prove that they are
pre-Roman; they can equally well be post-Roman. The scientific-sounding
information in the Countess's leaflet is misleading. Bos longifrons is a
now-defunct term that used to be applied to the small Iron Age cattle kept
by the British before and during the Roman period. It is now accepted that
all humpless domestic cattle are of a single species, Bos taurus, and that
they all descend ultimately from the aurochs, Bos primigenius. In other
words, since the Chillingham cattle, wherever they came from, cannot be
aurochsen, they must be Bos taurus just like Jerseys or Herefords or any
other breed. They do look more like miniature aurochsen, but that is
because they have not been selectively bred for beef or milk, and cattle
that have been left to their own devices will tend to revert to ancestral
type. Although both the late president and the patron have quoted genetic
work done on the cattle to support their arguments, the zoological reports
in fact make it quite clear that the Chillingham herd does not have any
special relationship to the aurochs whatsoever (Hall 1982-3, 96; 1991,
540).
The purported wildness of the herd is another
problem. If there have never been any truly wild European cattle except
the aurochs, which became extinct in Britain in the Bronze Age and to
which the Chillingham cattle are not especially closely related, then by
definition neither they nor any other herd in Britain can possibly be
wild. The Chillingham herd could have become feral at any time prior to
the seventeenth century, when records begin, but they must have been
domesticated at one stage. The late president has stated in print the
refusal of the cattle to be driven, or even closely approached, proves
that they must have always been wild, despite their emparked state (Bennet
1991, 22). However, seven hundred years is a very long time, and the
cattle could easily have reverted to wild behaviour within the three
hundred acres of Chillingham Park during this period. Alternatively, they
could have become feral some time in the early Middle Ages before they
were enclosed. The Association apparently takes it for granted, as have
many scholars, that the animals enclosed in the thirteenth century had
been living wild in the Caledonian forest, when it must have been either a
feral or a domestic herd which was emparked. One should remember that
livestock in the Middle Ages was often allowed to wander more or less
freely in the forest, so that the distinction between domestic and feral
was less clear-cut than it is today. It is also possible, in the absence
of any evidence before 1692, that the ancestors of the present herd were
purchased and placed in the park at any stage between the thirteenth and
seventeenth centuries, although this cannot be ascertained, and once they
became wild in their behaviour it is unlikely that anyone moved them
anywhere much. The bottom line is that, as there were never any wild (as
opposed to feral) cattle in medieval Britain, the Chillingham cattle must
descend either from domestic or feral stock.
There is an excellent article by Harriet Ritvo in
which she analyses the reluctance of the aristocratic owners of white
cattle (both White Park and Chillingham varieties) to acknowledge any
arguments that challenge either the wildness or the primeval nature of the
animals. This argument has been going on since the eighteenth century and
appears to be tied up with issues of "race, descent, and pedigree" as they
relate to the families keeping the cattle (Ritvo 1992, 2). Ritvo argues
that the cattle are identified symbolically with their owners and that to
question their wildness, and thus primordial, indigenous nature, is to
cast similar doubts on the ancient lineages and quintessential Britishness
of the noble families on whose estates they live (ibid., 10-14). In light
of the material published on the subject, and also of the evident
sensitivity of the Association's late president to questions about the
cattle's origin (he was also the son of the eighth earl of Tankerville by
his second marriage to the present patron of the Association), Ritvo's
article seems both convincing and enlightening. There are good
psychological and symbolic reasons why some parties want the cattle to be
prehistoric and immemorially wild, but the scientific studies do not bear
out these claims.
The third problematic issue is the colour of the
Chillingham cattle. The Countess's leaflet states, "They invariably breed
true to type and have never been known to throw a coloured, or even partly
coloured, calf." That the cows did occasionally produce calves with black,
rather than red, ears in former times is suggested by the steward's
account of 1692 and further supported by the engraver Thomas Bewick's
remark in 1790 that "about twenty years since, there were a few, at
Chillingham, with BLACK EARS [sic], but the present park-keeper destroyed
them; since which period there has not been one with black ears" (Bewick
1970, 39) (see Figure 1). In other words, the colour may be as much the
result of selective breeding as of ancient purity. If anything, the
whiteness is an indication of not being aurochsen, as the northern
European strain of aurochs (as far as one can tell from cave paintings)
may have had black bulls (sometimes with a white dorsal stripe or pale
saddle) and red cows and calves (Clutton-Brock 1987, 64). There is some
evidence from remains preserved in bogs that the small oxen of the Iron
Age may have been reddish. One zoological study also notes that "Coloured
domestic herds frequently produce white calves with reddish-brown ears"
and that the Chillingham herd may have "originated in the white calves
dropped by a coloured domestic herd" (Bilton 1957, 147).
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
Relevance of the Chillingham Herd to Irish Fairy
Cattle
What, then, do we know about the real history of
the Chillingham herd and what can it tell us about the fairy cattle of
Celtic literature? I think we can safely dismiss the many nineteenth- and
early twentieth-century arguments that the cattle are direct,
never-domesticated, descendants of British aurochsen. As they do not seem
to have been brought in by the Romans, they are either of "Celtic
shorthorn" or of Anglo-Saxon imported stock, or a mixture of both. They
could have become feral at any point during the Middle Ages and there are
certainly medieval accounts of wild forest cattle. The earliest is in
Cnut's Forest Laws, where the king refers to "bubali" and "vaccae." [9]
Properly speaking, these are "buffalo" and "cows," but as there have never
been any buffalo in Britain, "bubali" must refer to some kind of cattle.
It may simply mean "wild bulls," as opposed to wild cows, or it has been
suggested that "bubali" were beef-type cattle, while "vaccae" were dairy
cows (Dent 1974, 30). This suggestion clearly implies that the animals
were feral, or even simply free-roaming domesticated herds, rather than
genuinely wild. As turning domestic stock loose in the woods to forage for
themselves was common in the Middle Ages (rather like the pasturing of
ponies in the New Forest today), there would have been ample opportunity
for feral herds to form. Neither Cnut's law nor the twelfth-century
references to "tauri sylvestri" (Storer 1879, 56-60) clarifies the matter,
That some of these bulls became quite ferocious and were regarded as wild
is clear from some of the somewhat later accounts. The "Ballad of Sir Guy
of Warwick" (written in 1591) features a tremendous struggle with such a
creature, while Edward Topsell's 1658 History of Four-Footed Beasts gives
an elaborate description of the "White Scotian Bison," which sounds much
like a Chillingham-type animal (see Figure 2). He says:
In the woods of Scotland, called Callender or Caldur, and in ancient time
Calydonia ... there are bred white Oxen, maned about the neck like a Lyon,
but in other parts like ordinary and common Oxen. This wood was once full
of them, but now they are all slain, except in that part which is called
Cummirnald (Topsell 1658, 42).
There is simply no way to know whether the
Chillingham cattle were originally a group of feral "white Scotian bisons"
or a domestic herd which reverted to wild behaviour during the course of
its seven centuries in the park. Neither can we be sure if they were
always white with red ears. White being recessive in cattle, at least some
of the herd must have carried genes for that colour, and if the population
was isolated for long enough (say, seven hundred years in a walled park),
the recessive trait could well have become prevalent by a process known as
genetic drift (Albarella, pers. comm.). There was presumably also a red
gene in the mix which gave the red ears; this presents no great
difficulty, as red seems to have been common in aurochsen and perhaps Iron
Age domestic stock. It also persists most famously among that other
northern breed, the Highland.
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
This is one reasonable scenario for the origins
of the Chillingham herd (which will no doubt continue to be the subject of
much debate for years to come). But how does it help resolve the issue of
why red-eared white cattle are special and Otherworldly in medieval
literature? The fact that, even with centuries of inbreeding behind them,
the Chillingham cows continued to throw the occasional black-eared calf
until the eighteenth century suggests that maintaining the red-eared white
pattern required vigorous artificial selection. Also, simply preserving
whiteness involves selective breeding or strict isolation to make sure
that no coloured animals contaminate the genetic pool. Even in the White
Park cattle (which are a carefully managed rare breed), black or brown
calves still occasionally turn up. In other words, in the eighth or tenth
or thirteenth centuries, it would have been at least as difficult to
maintain a sizeable stock of red-eared white cattle as it was in the early
modern period. So we can immediately see that animals of this type are
special by virtue of their unusual appearance and the effort needed to
keep the breed pure and numerous. I have already mentioned why a white
coat might have been a desirable characteristic. Its possible connection
to sacredness, magic, or purity suggests that white cattle might have been
bred by religious communities. It has been suggested by some that they
were the Druids' sacrificial animals (see, for example, Storer 1879,
109-10; Whitlock 1977, 31). However, unless someone finds a red-eared
white carcass bearing the marks of sacrifice, preserved in a bog, this
suggestion can probably never be substantiated. Moving into the Christian
period, it is certainly possible that herds of this colour were the
property of monasteries, although Anthony Dent, who posits this, also
suggests that the white colour originated in the capture of white "sports"
from dark herds of aurochsen (Dent 1974, 31). This brings us right back to
the argument that the red-eared white cattle are special because they are
more closely related to aurochsen than are other modern breeds, but I
think we have already laid that theory to rest.
One definite possibility is that the fairy nature
of these cattle was an exclusively Irish construct. There is no
consistently red-eared white breed in Ireland now, nor is there any
historical (as opposed to literary) evidence that there ever was. A. T.
Lucas closes his book on ancient Irish cattle with the hypothesis that
this breed was either known only from the tales of travellers who had seen
them in Britain, or that if they had ever existed in Ireland itself,
"their magical appearance in Irish literature can only be explained as a
folk memory which had passed into folklore" (Lucas 1989, 245). By this
logic, they would seem to be Otherworldly because neither composers of the
tales nor their audiences would ever have seen any such beasts. However,
there is no reason why there could not have been export of some red-eared
white British stock to Ireland during the early medieval period. The
animals would still presumably have been special, as they would have been
exotic--and probably expensive--imports. There is some (albeit not
conclusive) evidence that Ireland did have red-eared white cattle. The
modern Irish hornless breed known as the Moylie is typically "red-brown
with white faces, and a continuous white stripe along their backs, or
almost entirely white with red ears and muzzles" (Bell 1985, 7). Moylie
enthusiasts claim that they are an ancient breed, although, like most such
claims of breed societies, this is probably impossible to verify. The
first issue of the Royal Dublin Society Historical Studies in Irish
Agriculture is a book on ancient Irish cattle breeds by Patrick Curran,
who states that red-eared white cattle were known in Ireland until at
least the 1820s. He cites the journal of a nineteenth-century Kilkenny
farmer named O' Sullivan (McGrath 1936) in which these animals are among
the breeds at the Callan fair (Curran 1990, 18). I have looked at this
journal and could not find this reference, but as it is in three volumes
without an index I could well have missed it. Even if it is there, it does
not necessarily prove a long ancestry in Ireland, as they could have come
straight from Britain (not from Chillingham, according to the Association,
but from one of the now defunct herds elsewhere).
Conclusion
Whether there was, or was not, breeding stock in
Ireland in the Middle Ages, it seems that the red-eared white coloration
has always been unusual and has required careful selection. The cattle
were probably never particularly numerous anywhere, and may have been
especially scarce in Ireland where all the early accounts connecting them
with the Otherworld come from. This rarity, combined with the general
sacred associations of the colour white, could have been enough to make
the cattle seem magical. This assumption would have been reinforced if the
herds were the private preserve of religious houses or noble families.
Alternatively, if they were already feral in the Middle Ages, their
peripheral relationship to civilisation could have given them a kind of
liminal status: being cattle, they were not quite wild beasts; but being
feral, they were not tame either. Or perhaps it was not that the cattle
were magical in themselves, but that the fairies were simply assumed to
have the most expensive, exotic types known to mortals.
One interesting thing about the real red-eared
white cattle is that they still retain something of their magical,
mysterious aura. The public literature distributed by the Chillingham Wild
Cattle Association deliberately fosters this sense of mystery, as does the
Association's reluctance to accept the findings of recent zoological
studies which indicate that the animals are the feral descendants of
ordinary domestic stock. Nobody claims that they come from the fairy
mounds any longer, but arguing that they are the direct descendants of
"the gigantic wild white bull of Caesar's time, and of the monstrous
bovine wonders of the Palaeolithic and neolithic ages" (Wallace 1907, 29)
seems thematically similar. Where the origin is obscure, it is easy to
imagine it to be remarkable.
And if to this day we still cannot determine
exactly where the red-eared white cattle came from, how much more
extraordinary must they have seemed in the early Middle Ages?
Acknowledgements
This article could not have been written without
the cooperation of the following people: Dr Umberto Albarella of the
Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Birmingham;
the late Hon. Ian Bennet, President of the Chillingham Wild Cattle
Association; Dr Caroline Grigson, Principal Curator of the Odontological
Museum, Royal College of Surgeons; Dr Finbar McCormick of the School of
Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University of Belfast; Mr David
Noble-Rollin, Secretary of the Natural History Society of Northumbria; Dr
Caroline Oates of the Folklore Society; Mr Austen Widdows, Warden of the
Chillingham Wild Cattle Park; and the library staff at the Hancock Museum
of Natural History, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Notes
[1] In the light of the current controversy over
whether the term "Celtic" has any real ethnic or cultural (as opposed to
purely linguistic) validity, I should explain that I am using it as a
shorthand adjective to refer to shared motifs found in the written sources
of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany.
[2] "di bae dec do assint sid, it e finda oiderga."
The tale may be as early as the eighth century, although the earliest
manuscript dates from the twelfth (Meid 1974, vii and xvii).
[3] These references may be found in Bergin 1946,
170 (in the original) and in Lucas 1989, 239-45 (in translation). The
relevant version of the Vita Brigitae is in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS
Rawlinson B.512, edited in Fraser, Grosjean and O'Keeffe, fasc. 1 (1931).
See also Cross 1952, s.v. "F241.2.1.2 Fairy cows have red ears."
[4] "can muw vrth pob kantref a uo ydav, a tharv
gvyn eskyuarllennyc vrth pob muv onadunt" (Wiliam 1960, 2). Note that the
"white" omitted in Jenkins's translation does occur in the original Welsh.
[5] This reference appears opposite the marginal
date 1210 in the 1807-8 edition which is based on the 1586 edition that
Storer probably used, but which I have not been able to consult (Holinshed
1807-08, 2:301). Thanks are due to Dr Caroline Oates who spent much time
combing through editions of the Chronicle trying to locate the source of
Storer's quote for me.
[6] The Chillingham Wild Cattle Association has
also established a small breeding group at an undisclosed location in
Scotland in order to protect the population should a disaster strike the
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Goddess Brighid
