As well as being good news for biodiversity and genetic resilience, native breeds connect us to our rural heritage.

Enjoying the winter sunshine

Originating in Eastern England, the Lincoln Red is one of the UK’s oldest native breeds. These handsome cattle are widely known for their hardiness, docility and dark red coats which protect them from sunburn and melanoma.

It is believed that Norse settlers brought the hardy ancestors of our native cattle to Britain in the first millennium. The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw several Lincolnshire breeders cross local draught cows with medium-sized shorthorn bulls and heifers from Yorkshire and Durham. By 1896, the Lincoln Red Shorthorn had its own herd book.

Eric Pentecost of Cropwell Butler near Nottingham is generally credited with polling the Lincoln Red between the late 1930s and the mid-1950s. One of our social media followers, Phil Needham, very kindly shared some insights into this process, and the parts played by his father, John Needham, and his uncle, Roland Tinkler.

 

The herd is both pedigree and original population

In Phil’s family, Eric Pentecost was seen as a rude and arrogant man who called everyone by their surname. Eric and John had a stormy relationship which came to a head when Eric wanted to introduce an Angus bull to a Red heifer. John insisted that the calf’s shoulders would be too broad for the heifer to safely manage and threatened to resign.

Words were exchanged and Eric walked away. Ten minutes later he returned and said, “Needham, I admire you…not many people will stand up and argue with me.”

From then on, Eric Pentecost addressed John by his Christian name and often drew on his expertise. Between them, John, Roland and Eric spent 17 years crossing and back-crossing five generations of Aberdeen Angus and Lincoln Red Shorthorn cattle until they arrived at the polled Lincoln Red.

Original-population Lincoln Red cattle, defined as those whose bloodline is 100% native and without crossbreeding, are classed as ‘vulnerable’ by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. We are proud that our thriving herd is both pedigree and original population.

 

Winter sunshine

We wholeheartedly support the RBST’s work in preserving and speaking up for our native breeds. Grazing animals on land to which they’ve adapted over centuries is better for them, better for the environment and better for consumers.

CONTINUE...