My Life With Luna

By chrisA

White Park Cattle

Whilst my grandson was playing rugby this morning, I took my granddaughter on a photo shoot to the Rare Breeds Farm not far from where I live.
I thought we were going to be able to photograph the newly born lambs but they were all in pens inside a barn and the lighting wasn't too good so I'm doing my blip of one of the White Park cows that were also under cover with their calves because of the weather. I liked this photograph as she looks like she is smiling for the camera.
According to the Rare Breeds Website the White Park is the most ancient breed of cattle native to the British Isles. Cattle of this type were recorded in the 5th century in Wales and features much earlier in Irish folklore. In the 13th century herds of 'wild white beasts' were enclosed in parks by the nobility of England and Scotland. By the end of the 19th century such parks had largely gone out of fashion and the breed struggled to survive until 1973 when the Rare Breeds Survival Trust was formed and chose White Park as their logo. From 60 left in the breed at that time there are now more than 750 breeding cows. At the onset of World War Two a number of animals were sent to North America and maintained on the King Ranch in Texas in order to 'preserve part of the natural heritage'.
White Park is a thrifty and healthy cattle noted for its ease of calving and longevity with bulls and cows still breeding at 16 years of age. It's well marbled beef is of high quality and was the original 'Sir Loin'.

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