Summer 2012 News Letter - RBST Devon

Shetland Cattle: A breed from the past with a place in the future.
by Dodie Huxter
This is a truly ancient breed descended from Bronze Age cattle which dwelt alongside Shetlanders and wintered within their very own houses. These ancient
animals adapted and developed to cope with climatic and social changes without jeopardising their environment. They are well suited to grazing on rough, and
often wet ground (should do well this year!) in poor conditions. Milk trials and beef trials have indicated the advantages of the Shetland cow as a native breed
which offers all the potential benefits of a low maintenance suckler cow with the real advantages of modern commercial types. It is the ideal smallholder's cow
and is easily hand milked.
Five Shetland cattle arrived at Welland Down farm in May 2008 to join our herd of 45 Red Ruby Devon cattle which had been with us since 1999. I had been
well aware of Shetland cattle for many years through my membership of the Shetland Sheep Society dating from1992 and my visits to the RBST Show and Sale
at Stoneleigh. Friends and acquaintances sparked an interest in the breed, both cattle and sheep and this was deepened on my first visit to Shetland in 1998 when
I fell in love with the cattle running on Burland croft, the home of Tommy and Mary Isbister. Other friends and breeders on the Island have all contributed in their
own way to my great love affair with the Shetland "Kye", Shetland Sheep and, indeed, with all things Shetland. (Ponies, geese and ducks!)
The five cattle which arrived here were from the dispersal sale of the Hengae herd based at Beaworthy in Devon: two cows, Collafirth Jolene (in calf to Hengae
Faultless) and St Trinians Cloudy, both with bull calves (five and four months respectively) at foot, and Hengae Faithless, a heifer of 22 months. We were advised
by the Breed Society and the RBST not to keep the bull calves entire so they were surgically castrated and reared on to be sold later when fit through our Farmers'
Market outlets. A PD test indicated that Jolene was not in calf so we consulted with Mary Holloway and followed Lawrence Alderson's document on the breeding
of bulls on the AI list. We could not contemplate running a Shetland bull since we were already running Red Ruby Devon bulls with our herd. Jolene and Cloudy
proved very easy to AI but it was such a problem for Hengae Faithless that in the end we had to run her with the Red Ruby bull. I had no wish to do any crossbreeding
but this was a last attempt! To date we have used semen from Ash Dougall, Cova Carl, Stanemore Odin and St Trinians Laurie. All our animals are black
and white but there are other colours - red, grey, blue and dun. I like the more traditional Shetland, lighter boned and milky. Temperament is also important to
me and all my animals are good-tempered and placid.
Cloudy had been a show cow so is easy to handle, halter trained and has also been hand milked. My great love of the self sufficiency ethos led me to hope
that I would be hand milking at some stage This was planned for two years ago but calving late Christmas Eve and every pipe in the barn frozen I decided to take
the multiple suckling route! Two young AA cross calves available on the next door farm allowed my enthusiasm for multiple suckling to get the better of me!
After marketing two male calves as meat we decided that there was a place for Shetland beef on our list of market products. Fine grained and a great depth of
flavour it went down well with our customers, but they did find it difficult to place Shetland beef ahead of Red Ruby Devon!! (too lean, even for our butcher!) but
we just love it!
Shetland cattle appealed to me because of their ancient origins, their appearance, their size, their temperament, their hardiness and independence and their
ease of management. Their position as one of Britain's rarest native cattle breeds is challenging, but greatly rewarding and quite simply great to have around!
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