Shorthorn

Shorthorn-type cattle were already present in Durham and Yorkshire in the sixteenth century. In the late 1700s the Colling brothers, Charles and Robert, began improving the Durham cattle by selective breeding, and the Durham Ox, calved in 1796, made the type famous. George Coates published the first volume of his herd book in 1822, the first pedigree herd book for cattle in the world.

America took them early. Imports began before 1808, and the American Shorthorn Herd Book, started in 1846, was the first published for any breed in the United States. The American Shorthorn Association dates to 1872. Within the breed, the Bates lines were developed for milking and the Booth lines for beef, a split that eventually produced separate beef and milking populations.

They come in red, white and roan, the roan being a genuine mix of red and white hairs rather than a dilution, and it is a color almost no other breed produces. Both horned and polled cattle are registered.

Good disposition is one of the qualities the American Shorthorn Association lists for the breed, polled and horned alike. In Britain, the Beef Shorthorn Cattle Society describes the cows as docile and markets the breed as a cross to improve temperament in other herds. The American association also registers Shorthorn-influenced cattle carrying other breeds, so judge the herd in front of you rather than the name.

Cornell's general guidance on beef cattle safety holds here too: a cow with a newborn calf can be very aggressive, so avoid walking between her and the calf, and no bull can be trusted.

What they are known for is temperament and maternal ability. Shorthorn cows are docile, milk well, and are widely used to add both traits to a commercial herd. The carcass marbles.

The American Shorthorn Association describes a feed-efficient, adaptable breed that thrives in varied environments, and the British society adds good foraging, hardiness and a long working life.

The thing to manage is genetic testing. The association tracks three inherited conditions: tibial hemimelia, a lethal recessive in which affected calves that survive birth cannot stand to nurse; pulmonary hypoplasia with anasarca, in which affected calves are born dead; and digital subluxation, a non-lethal malformation of the rear pasterns. It requires testing for all three in AI sires and donor dams, so ask for the results on any breeding animal.

The trade is that decades as a crossing breed have left a wide range within the registry. There are cattle bred hard for growth and cattle bred for the show ring, and the difference between two Shorthorns can be larger than the difference between two other breeds.

Check the book. The American Shorthorn Association, founded in 1872, registers the beef Shorthorn; the Milking Shorthorn and the Heritage Shorthorn (Native) are separate populations with their own listings in this catalog.

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