Historic cattle breed finally recognised as UK native cow
Surviving against the odds, an historic cattle breed has been formally recognised for the first time since the 1960s.
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) has welcomed the very rare Albion cattle onto its watchlist as a recognised UK native rare breed.
Originally from Derbyshire, where they were known as “Bakewell Blues” or “Blue Albions”, in recent years the Albion Cattle Society decided to lose the ‘blue’ to better reflect the variety of colours that can be found within the breed.
It has taken a small number of dedicated breeders many years to bring back the breed from the brink and prove its continued existence throughout the last century.
During the 1960s there was a deadly Foot and Mouth out- break which decimated many Albion herds. This was coupled with the importation of dairy breeds such as the Holstein which proved very popular, at the expense of dualpurpose breeds like the Albion.
Despite these set-backs, a handful of breeders kept the breed going against the odds, swapping bulls to keep the animals from becoming too inbred. In recent times, breeders have worked hard to recover the breed and increase its popularity.
Susannah Mannerings, secretary of the Albion Cattle Society, inherited a herd of Albions from her mother, Dinah Whittingham, eight years ago and with it a determination to see the breed recognised.
She said: “They are just a wonderful breed; so pleasing to the eye, with lovely temperaments; it is great to honour the debt of the Albion breeders of the past and now to be able to carry these genetics forward.”
The RBST Watchlist is a document showing the rarity of the UK’s native breeds of mammal.
Every year, RBST collects data from over 130 breed societies, including the number of males and females registered. This data is used, along with a multiplier, to estimate the number of registered breeding females in the UK for each breed.
This is used to place each breed either in one of the five categories on the Watchlist, or in the Other Native Breeds category, for those that are not rare but still fulfill our criteria for a native breed.
Gail Sprake, chairman of the RBST, added: “Here at RBST we proudly boast that no breed has become extinct since we formed in 1973, but we could so easily could have been proven wrong by failing to recognise these cattle.
“The Albions have had dramatic reversal of fortune since their heyday in the 1920’s, but we hope that this recognition will herald the start of a new chapter for the breed.”
Countryfile presenter Adam Henson joined as a new breeder earlier this year, purchasing a herd which now lives at Cotswold Farm Park.
The National Trust also look after an historic herd at High Lickbarrow near Windermere, which means the public can admire and support this incredibly endangered breed.