Builth Wells - Livestock Breeds

Livestock Breeds

The name Builth is derived from the Welsh Bu-Allt which loosely translated means 'cattle range'. The White Bull of Builth may be a reference to a herd of White Park Cattle that lived in the area from Post-Roman times. Two herds survived in Wales to modern times. The laws of the time suggest that the medieval and later economy of the Welsh borders was strongly dependent on cattle. The Hereford cattle breed, named after Hereford market where it was most prominently sold was the main breed of the Welsh borders. Builth was the market for a variant of the Hereford called the Builth Smokey Face. This was the traditional animal of the area but the breed has not existed for many, many decades. The Welsh Black cattle have very little to do with the history of Builth, except in so far as Cardiganshire cattle-drovers drove herds of cattle through Builth to markets in England. Beef cattle have largely vanished from the area.

The Beulah Speckled Face is a local breed of sheep. Nearby Mynydd Epynt was famous for its horses until it was seized for military training purposes.

The beef cattle market has vanished and economically sheep are now vastly more important than cattle with consequences for the traditional woodlands of the area, the salmon runs and other important ecological features.