Description
The White Park is a medium-large, long-bodied bovine. A programme of linear assessment, including 200 bulls and 300 cows, has been carried out in the UK since 1994 to define its size and conformation. Mature bull weights vary from 800 kg to 1,000 kg, depending on the quality of grazing, but bulls in good condition may weigh 1,250 kg. Average withers height is 146 cm, chest depth 88 cm, body length (point of withers to point of pin bone (tuber ischii) 167 cm, hip (tuber coxae) width 64 cm, and scrotal circumference 45 cm. The relevant corresponding measurements for adult cows are 500-700 kg, 132 cm, 76 cm, 148 cm and 60 cm. The colour is distinctive, being porcelain white with coloured (black or red) points, namely ears, nose, eye rims, hooves, and teats and tips of the long horns. The colour pattern is dominant to other colours. The horns of the cows vary in shape, but the majority grow forwards and upwards in a graceful curve. The horns of bulls are thicker and shorter, and not so uplifted. In their native environment in Britain, White Park cattle are noted not only for their distinctive appearance, but also for their grazing behaviour, where they show a preference for coarser herbage. They are well-suited to non-intensive production and some herds are kept outside throughout the year on rough upland grazing without shelter or supplementary feed. They are docile, easy-calving, and have a long productive life. Some traits may vary a little in other countries, but the basic type is the same.
They are beef animals noted for the quality of their meat. Until relatively recently they were a triple-purpose breed – meat, milk and draught. The 3rd Lord Dynevor (1765-1852) kept a team of draught oxen, and the practice continued up to 1914. The records of one plough ox that was killed in 1871 at 14 years of age, show that he stood six feet (183 cm) at the withers and weighed 23 cwt (1171 kg). They were used as dairy cattle even more recently. Some cows were being milked in the Dynevor herd in 1951, but yields were moderate. Beef became the main product during the twentieth century, and gained a reputation as a textured meat, with excellent flavour and marbling, which commanded a significant premium in speciality markets. Its reputation was established first in August 1617 when the King James I declared “Finer beef nae man ever put his teeth into - - - Henceforth, it shall be Sir-Loin”. The best quality beef comes from 36-month-old animals, and fine marbling is the key to its eating quality, while the low cholesterol content adds to its attraction for the health-conscious consumers.
Several blood typing and DNA studies have revealed the genetic distinctness of White Park cattle and the Oklahoma State University web site confirms the White Park is not closely related to two breeds of the same colour, but which are hornless, namely the American White Park (which actually is British White) and the British White and is genetically distinct from them. The colour-pointed coat pattern also appears in other cattle breeds such as the Irish Moiled, the BON, the Berrenda, the N'guni, and the Texas Longhorn. The breeds most closely related seem to be the Highland cattle and Galloway cattle of Scotland, but the White Park "is genetically far distant from all British breeds". The Chillingham has diverged from the main White Park population and various myths have grown up around them. Hemming references the work of Hall in the following excerpt: "- - In other words, since the Chillingham cattle, wherever they came from, cannot be aurochsen, they must be Bos taurus just like Jerseys or Herefords or any other breed. They do look more like miniature aurochsen, but that is because they have not been selectively bred for beef or milk, and cattle that have been left to their own devices will tend to revert to ancestral type. Although both the late president and the patron have quoted genetic work done on the cattle to support their arguments, the zoological reports in fact make it quite clear that the Chillingham herd does not have any special relationship to the aurochs whatsoever (Hall 1982-3, 96; 1991, 540)."
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