Lincoln Red

The breed came together in the 1700s and 1800s when Lincolnshire cows were crossed with Durham and York Shorthorn bulls. The result was the Lincolnshire Red Shorthorn, and breeders opened their own herd book in 1896. The name lost its Shorthorn in 1960.

The horns went next. Beginning in the war years, breeder Eric Pentecost bred the horns off using Red Poll and Aberdeen Angus genetics, and the first polled bull was licensed in 1956. Most Lincoln Reds today are polled; horned animals remain, valued partly for genetic diversity.

When continental breeds arrived in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, most Lincoln Reds were crossed into them. The cattle imported to the US and Canada came over in the 1960s and early 1970s, just before that outcrossing began.

A big, deep cherry-red animal with soft pink skin; the dark red coat is thought to reduce the chance of sunburn and skin cancer. The Livestock Conservancy puts adult weight at 1,500 to 2,400 lb, with cows around 1,500 and bulls around 2,000; Wikipedia's averages run 1,540 lb for cows and 2,180 for bulls, with bulls standing about 57 inches and cows about 53.

Docile, with a novice experience rating. The Conservancy's notes call the temperament excellent, and the breed is one of the more manageable entries on the Conservation Priority List.

It started as a dual-purpose animal and is now bred for beef. The British Board of Agriculture singled it out for how fast it finishes, and fast, steady growth is still the selling point.

Cooler country suits them. The Conservancy calls the breed hardy and well suited to cooler climates, and there is no exotic requirement beyond that: these are British beef cattle with British beef cattle needs.

Critical on the Conservation Priority List. In Britain the uncrossed remnant is now called the Lincoln Red Original Population and is listed as critically endangered by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. That makes the North American herds, descended from imports that predate the outcrossing, genuinely significant to the breed worldwide.

The North American Lincoln Red Association, based in Minnesota, is the breed's registry on this continent. Ask for registration, and ask about the line: cattle tracing to the 1960s imports are part of the pre-continental gene pool that conservation breeders care about.

Ask whether an animal is polled or horned. Both exist, and the horned minority carries diversity a breed this small cannot afford to lose.

Recent sale prices on HoofnHorn, where there are any, are further down this page.