The Farmers Mart Jun-Jul 2019 - Issue 63 | Page 51

CATTLE 51
• JUN/JUL 2019
RARE ALBION CATTLE RECOGNISED
ON THE RBST WATCHLIST
Surviving against the odds, an historic cattle breed has been formally recognised for
the first time since the 1960’s. Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) has just welcomed
the very rare Albion cattle onto the 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 contin-
ued existence throughout the last century.
During the 1960’s there was a deadly Foot
and Mouth outbreak 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 dual-purpose breeds like the
Albion.
Despite these setbacks, 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.
Gail Sprake, Chairman of RBST said,
“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 1920s, but we hope that this
recognition will herald the start of a new
chapter for the breed.”
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 Winder-
mere, which means the public can admire
and support this incredibly endangered
breed.
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