White Park
Encyclopedia
The White Park is a rare
Rare breed (agriculture)
A rare breed is defined as a breed of livestock or poultry that is not common in modern agriculture, though it may have been in the past. Various national and international organizations, such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy or the Rare Breeds...

 breed
Breed
A breed is a group of domestic animals or plants with a homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species. Despite the centrality of the idea of "breeds" to animal husbandry, there is no scientifically accepted...

 of horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...

ed cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 with ancient herd
Herd
Herd refers to a social grouping of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic, and also to the form of collective animal behavior associated with this or as a verb, to herd, to its control by another species such as humans or dogs.The term herd is generally applied to mammals,...

s preserved in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

.

Description

The White Park is a breed of cattle that is white except for its points (ears, nose, eye area, feet and hooves
Hoof
A hoof , plural hooves or hoofs , is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, strengthened by a thick horny covering. The hoof consists of a hard or rubbery sole, and a hard wall formed by a thick nail rolled around the tip of the toe. The weight of the animal is normally borne by both the sole...

, and teats); the points are usually black but may also be red. Its tongue should be pink with a dark underside. It is a medium-size bovine with mature bull
Bull
Bull usually refers to an uncastrated adult male bovine.Bull may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Bull , an original show on the TNT Network* "Bull" , an episode of television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...

s weighing about 950 kilograms (2,094.4 lb)and cows weighing about 650 kilograms (1,433 lb).

According to one breeder "this magnificent, ancient breed" frequently has:

...upswept lyre
Lyre
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...

-shaped horns similar to Ayrshires
Ayrshire cattle
The Ayrshire cattle is a breed of dairy cattle originated from Ayrshire in Scotland. The average mature Ayrshire cow weighs 1,000-1,300 pounds . Ayrshires have red markings. The red can be an orange to a dark brown, with or without coloured legs. They are known for low somatic cell counts,...

 that continue to twist as the animals age. The bulls typically have shorter horns that curve forward with age in a flat arc. The cows are quite tall and very angular (resembling Texas Longhorns
Texas longhorn (cattle)
The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and tip to tip for bulls. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring...

 in body shape)...They are extremely active and alert cattle with large flight zone
Flight zone
The flight zone of an animal is the area surrounding the animal that will cause alarm and escape behavior when encroached upon. If a person enters the flight zone of an animal, the animal will move away. The size of the flight zone depends upon the tameness of the animal. Completely tame animals...

s that require careful handling. The cattle are aggressive grazers and calve
Calf
Calves are the young of domestic cattle. Calves are reared to become adult cattle, or are slaughtered for their meat, called veal.-Terminology:...

 with exceptional ease.

The White Park bear resemblance to the Longhorn because the horned White Park of today is product of the mixing of other old breeds of England, as described by Hall. “The White Park is really a mixture of several breeds and includes blood from Longhorn (English, not Texas), Welsh Black and Scottish Highland. This is because it (White Park) originated when several ancient herds of white cattle were merged and in all of these (unlike Chillingham) there had been crossing with other breeds."

While the White Park is now among those breeds bred and selected for beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

 production, historically it served a dual purpose and was valued as a source of milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

 as well. The White Park is well-suited to non-intensive production
Factory farming
Factory farming is a term referring to the process of raising livestock in confinement at high stocking density, where a farm operates as a factory — a practice typical in industrial farming by agribusinesses. The main products of this industry are meat, milk and eggs for human consumption...

.

According to the Oklahoma State University web site, the White Park is not closely related to the British White
British White
The British White is a naturally polled British cattle breed, white with black or red points, used mainly for beef. It has a confirmed history dating back to the 17th century, and may be derived from similar cattle kept in parks for many centuries before that.-Characteristics:The British White has...

 (which is hornless) or the American White Park
American White Park
The American White Park is a large, mostly polled, white breed of cattle. The females have an average weight of roughly 1000 pounds , while the males have an average weight between 1700-1800 pounds ....

 and is genetically
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....

 distinct from them; however, there is some doubt about this information, as all breed information provided by OSU is the product of queries to the respective breed associations, not in-house cattle experts. The color-pointed coat pattern these three share sometimes also appears in other cattle breeds such as the Irish Moyled, the BON, the Berrenda, the N'guni
Nguni cattle
The Nguni cattle breed is indigenous to southern Africa. A hybrid of indigenous and Indian cattle they were introduced by the Bantu tribes of southern Africa from the north of the continent...

, and the Texas Longhorn. Per the OSU web site blood typing has established that although the Highland cattle
Highland cattle
Highland cattle or kyloe are a Scottish breed of beef cattle with long horns and long wavy coats which are coloured black, brindled, red, yellow or dun....

 and the Galloway cattle
Galloway cattle
The Galloway is one of the world's longest established breeds of beef cattle, named after the Galloway region of Scotland, where it originated. It is now found in many parts of the world....

 of Scotland seem to be its closest relatives, the White Park "is genetically far distant from all British breeds".

Hemming references the work of Hall in the following excerpt: ". . . 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)."

History

Both horned and polled white cattle with red points are mentioned in the ancient Irish epic The Cattle Raid of Cooley
Táin Bó Cúailnge
is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse. It tells of a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, opposed only by the teenage...

that survives in recensions dating back to at least the 12th century and preserving stories from perhaps a thousand years earlier.

The White-Horn bull most often mentioned by horned White Park breeders in the 'Cattle Raid of Cooley' section of The Tain is not distinguished in The Tain as having red ears; however, in prelude sections and in subsequent sections to the Cattle Raid saga are found many references to hornless milk-white heifers and cow herds with red ears, and always they are in the context of domesticity, rather than wildness. As well, the great White-Horn in The Tain was found and killed by the Dun bull in the context of a village community, indicating domesticity. The 'wild' aspect of the breed now known as White Park has its roots in the isolated Chillingham herd, while other horned herds of White Park cattle are, and have been, quite domesticated.

Cattle of a similar type are also mentioned in Welsh law
Welsh law
Welsh law was the system of law practised in Wales before the 16th century. According to tradition it was first codified by Hywel Dda during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales; as such it is usually called Cyfraith Hywel, the Law of Hywel, in Welsh...

s made in Deheubarth by a series of rulers from AD 856 to 1197. A herd at Dynefor (Dinefwr
Dinefwr
Dinefwr was a local government district of Dyfed, Wales from 1974 to 1996. It was named after Dinefwr Castle which was the royal capital of the Principality of Deheubarth and one of the three principal royal courts of Wales....

), Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, dates from this time. Herds at Chartley
Chartley Castle
Chartley Castle lies in ruins to the north of the village of Stowe-by-Chartley in Staffordshire, between Stafford and Uttoxeter . It is a Grade II* listed building...

 and Chillingham
Chillingham Cattle
Chillingham Cattle are a breed of cattle that live in a large enclosed park at Chillingham Castle, Northumberland, England. This rare breed consists of about 90 animals in Chillingham, which inhabit a very large park that has existed since the Middle Ages...

 in England and Cadzow in Scotland date to the mid-13th century and a time when the White Park were "emparked", i.e., enclosed in hunting chases
Game reserve
A game reserve is an area of land set aside for maintenance of wildlife for tourism or hunting purposes. Many game reserves are located in Africa. Most are open to the public, and tourists commonly take sightseeing safaris or hunt wild game....

.

There were more than a dozen white Park Cattle herds in Britain in the early 19th century, but most of these were exterminated by the turn of the next century.

The Park Cattle registration programme
Breed registry
A breed registry, also known as a stud book or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders when they are still young...

 in Britain was started in the early 20th century, and registered both the horned and the polled Park cattle, but the registrations lapsed during World War II. The old image below reflects both a horned and a polled Park animal in 1835. The image is entitled 'White Urus', and reflects the myth that was strong even almost 200 years ago that the Park cattle, both horned and polled, were direct descendants of the ancient aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....

.

By then, only the Dynevor, Woburn
Woburn Safari Park
Woburn Safari Park is a safari park located in Woburn, Bedfordshire in the UK. Visitors to the park can drive through the large animal exhibits, which contain species such as White Rhino, Elephants, Tigers and Black Bears...

, Whipsnade
Whipsnade
Whipsnade is a small village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, about 2.5 miles South-South-West of Dunstable...

, and Cadzow herds survived as domesticated herds; the ancient herds at Vaynol
Vaynol
Vaynol or Y Faenol , is a country estate dating from the Tudor period, near Y Felinheli in Gwynedd, North Wales . There are of park, farmland, and gardens on the estate, with over thirty listed buildings, surrounded by a wall which is long...

 (Faenol) in Wales and the above-mentioned Chillingham herd having become semi-feral
Feral
A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...

. In 1973, when the Rare Breeds Survival Trust
Rare Breeds Survival Trust
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust is a conservation charity, whose purpose is to secure the continued existence and viability of the United Kingdom’s native farm animal genetic resources...

 was formed in Britain, the remaining British herds were given the general name "White Park".
One or two pairs of White Park cattle were imported to Canada in the 1930s and were kept at the Toronto Zoo
Toronto Zoo
The Toronto Zoo is a zoo located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened August 15, 1974 as the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo and is owned by the City of Toronto; the word "Metropolitan" was dropped from its name when the cities of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto were amalgamated to form the...

. While some sources indicate the export of these cattle was done for purely commercial reasons, others say sent they were sent to North America to preserve a British "national treasure" from the threat of Nazi invasion.

The Canadian-born offspring of those cattle eventually ended up at the Bronx Zoo
Bronx Zoo
The Bronx Zoo is located in the Bronx borough of New York City, within Bronx Park. It is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, comprising of park lands and naturalistic habitats, through which the Bronx River flows....

 but facilities there were inadequate for their long term housing. Four animals were moved to the King Ranch
King Ranch
King Ranch, located in south Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville, is one of the world's largest ranches. The ranch, founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis, includes portions of six Texas counties, including most of Kleberg County and much of Kenedy County, with...

 in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 where they remained for almost the next forty years before being purchased by Mr. & Mrs. John Moeckly of Polk City, Iowa
Polk City, Iowa
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,344 people, 826 households, and 645 families residing in the city. The population density was 862.4 people per square mile . There were 842 housing units at an average density of 309.8 per square mile...

. Correspondence authored by Captain Jean Delacour of the New York Zoological Society states on Feb. 10, 1942 ". . .they are neither wild nor vicious. In fact, they are just a breed of very old and primitive domestic cattle -- the probable ancestors of Shorthorns." Further, Robert Kleberg of the King Ranch tells us ". . .We were also interested in these cattle because at one time we ran Shorthorns in very large wooded pastures . . .there were many cases in which they reverted to red ears or black ears and we thought there must be some connection between the Shorthorn cattle and the Wild Park Cattle of England. In fact, I do believe this to be the case."

A portion of that herd was sold to the Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange
Seed Savers Exchange, or SSE, founded by Kent Whealy and Diane Ott Whealy, is a non-profit organization based in Decorah, Iowa, that preserves heirloom plant varieties through regeneration, distribution and seed exchange...

 in Decorah, Iowa
Decorah, Iowa
Decorah is a city in and the county seat of Winneshiek County, Iowa, United States. The population was 8,172 at the 2000 census. Decorah is located at the intersection of State Highway 9 and U.S...

, in 1988 and single heifer
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 was sold to Joywind Farm in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. This was followed by the sale of all but a few old cows and the White Park breed registry
Breed registry
A breed registry, also known as a stud book or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders when they are still young...

 to the B Bar Ranch in Big Timber, Montana
Big Timber, Montana
Big Timber is a city in and the county seat of Sweet Grass County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,650 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Big Timber is located at ....

. The last few aged cows were sold to Mark Fields of Clark, Missouri
Clark, Missouri
Clark is a city in Randolph County, Missouri, United States. The population was 275 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Clark is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

.

There were only five North American herds in 1995 and with a breeding population of less than 50 animals in the United States the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy is a nonprofit organization focused on preserving and promoting genetic diversity among rare breeds of livestock...

 now regards this animal's status as critical. White Park in the United States have been DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 tested to determine the best course for a breeding program to insure their survival.

Besides Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, the breed is also kept in Australia, Germany, and Denmark but its total numbers equal only approximately 500 purebred females, plus bulls and young stock. They are mostly found on Rare Breed
Rare breed (agriculture)
A rare breed is defined as a breed of livestock or poultry that is not common in modern agriculture, though it may have been in the past. Various national and international organizations, such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy or the Rare Breeds...

 farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...

s such as Wimpole Home Farm
Wimpole Home Farm
Wimpole Home Farm is an 18th-century model farm located at Wimpole Hall, Arrington, Royston, Cambridgeshire, England, and operated by the National Trust...

 in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

, England, Appleton Farms
Appleton Farms
Appleton Farms is a park in Ipswich, Massachusetts, that is owned and maintained by The Trustees of Reservations.-References:*...

 in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, or the previously-mentioned B Bar Ranch in Montana.

See also

  • Finnbhennach
    Finnbhennach
    In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, Finnbhennach was an extremely fertile stud bull owned by king Ailill of Connacht....

     ("White-Horned", a bull featured in Táin Bó Cuailnge
    Táin Bó Cúailnge
    is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse. It tells of a war against Ulster by the Connacht queen Medb and her husband Ailill, who intend to steal the stud bull Donn Cuailnge, opposed only by the teenage...

    )
  • List of breeds of cattle

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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