Cattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the
subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae, a family that
also includes e.g. goats, sheep, bison and antelope.
Domesticated cattle are raised for meat, dairy products,
and leather, as well as to be used as draught animals (pulling
carts and plows). The word cattle derives from the Latin
caput (head) and means unit of livestock or one
head. There are 3.8 million dairy and beef cattle
in the UK (figures from 2005). Including younger calves and heifers, the figure is about 10.4 million.
There are two different domestic breeds of cattle;
Bos indicus (zebu) and Bos taurus (taurine),
differentiated by the presence or absence of a hump,
and they both derived from the aurochs, Bos primigenius.
Bos indicus mainly occurs in tropical regions
and Bos taurus mainly in temperate regions. Recently
the two breeds as well as the aurochs have been grouped
as one species, with the subspecies Bos primigenius
taurus, Bos primigenius indicus and Bos
primigenius primigenius. The dairy cattle in the
UK today are mainly Friesian/Holstein, derived from Bos taurus. The use of artificial
insemination has contributed to the high production
levels of these domesticated cattle.
There seem to be two theories of how the aurochs became domesticated.
One theory is that the two domesticated breeds mentioned
above originated from the same species 8,000-11,000
years ago. The second theory is that the two breeds
originated from two subspecies of the aurochs in different
locations. Examination of DNA (Loftus et al. 1994) showed
that there are two distinct lineages, one European (taurine
breeds)/African (a cross between zebu and taurine breeds)
and one Indian (zebu breeds), supporting the theory
that the domestication occurred in different locations,
and the domestication could have happened 200,000 to
1 million years ago.
Aurochs in Britain became extinct during the Bronze
Age (2200-700 BC), but these aurochs had no genetic
contribution to Britain's domesticated cattle. Domesticated
European cattle are thought to be descended directly
from the domestication of the aurochs in the Near East
mentioned above. The last aurochs were killed by poachers
in Masovia, Poland, in 1627. Human breeders have attempted
to recreate the species by crossing commercial breeds,
creating the Heck cattle breed, see picture below.
The closest living wild relatives of the European domestic cattle
are bantengs, Bos Javanicus, and gaur, Bos
gaurus, in South East Asia. Bantengs are endangered
and the world population is unlikely to be more than
8,000 and could be fewer than 5,000 animals. Gaurs are
classified as vulnerable, and there are an estimated
13,000-30,000 left. Both bantengs and gaur are threatened
by hunting, loss of habitat, disease transmission from
domestic cattle, and interbreeding with domestic and
semi-feral cattle. Like many other horned mammals they
are valued by humans for their horns.
Bantengs and gaurs form small herds of 10-30 individuals.
Dairy cattle in the UK have an average herd size of
70, although sometimes there can be up to 150 individuals
in the same herd. In the wild, several herds of bantengs
or gaurs may get together during breeding season. Young
males often form bachelor groups. There is a strict
social hierarchy in a herd based on matriarchal families.
The highest ranking individual has priority to food,
shelter and water, and the offspring inherits its mother's
status. Calves often form lifelong relationships when
only a few days old, and the social bonds are reinforced
through mutual grooming. A new member or separation
of a herd is very stressful to the herd.
Cattle have poor depth perception and they are therefore
reluctant to enter dark or shadowy areas and they also
react to e.g. changes in floor surface and shadows.
They have good hearing, which is superior to humans'
hearing, and cattle are sensitive to loud, sudden noises.
The colour of cattle is due to its origin, but also
to genetic modification; e.g. the Celts thought red
animals symbolised fertility and crops, black animals
pestilence and death, and white animals the worship
of the sun (Alderson 1992), which might have led to
selective breeding of the cattle to produce these colours.
Britain's wild cattle
Animals (human and non-human species) have colonised
and re-colonised Britain several times in the past,
maybe from as early as 700,000 years ago. Due to several
glaciations most species have had to move south from
Britain several times to avoid the cold and the glaciers.
One of these glaciations was the last major cold event,
which peaked around 18,000 years ago. Britain was then
connected to the continent. Further fluctuations in
the climate followed, before the current warm phase
(the Holocene) began about 10,000 years ago. Humans
and large land mammals, including wild cattle, crossed
the land bridge before Britain was disconnected from
the mainland.
Today, there are six "wild" cattle herds
in Britain; the Chillingham, Vaynol, Dyneros, Woburn,
Whipsnade and Cadzow herds, but not all of them are
wild or pure-breed anymore since most of them are domesticated
to some extent. The Chillingham herd is by most people considered to
be truly wild as they have been isolated in the Chillingham
park for 750 years with little human interference. This will be discussed further below.
The Chillingham herd
The Chillingham park
The Chillingham cattle are white cattle, most likely remnants of
Britain's wild cattle. The herd of 62 individuals resides
in a 365-acre (148 ha) park, the Chillingham
Park, in Northumberland, northern England, owned
by the Chillingham Wild Cattle Association (CWCA), a
registered charity. This park was enclosed in 1270 AD
and the cattle have been isolated from other cattle
and from most human interference since then (there is
as little contact with humans as possible). The park
is open
to the public, but visitors must be accompanied by a
warden.
The cattle are likely to be descended from the aurochs, a theory which is supported by the similarities in cranial geometrics and the positioning of the horns relative to the skull design. However, another theory suggests that the Chillingham breed is descended from feral cattle, click here for further information.
Other species that can be seen in the Chillingham park are e.g.
roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), fallow deer (Cervus
dama) and several bird species, as well as tree
species such as alders (Alnus sp.), beeches (Fagus sp.) and oaks (Quercus sp.). There are also 300
breeding ewes in the park. The total stocking density
of the park is 0.48 livestock unit per hectare.
Biology and Behaviour of the Cattle
The isolation of the Chillingham cattle means that
for the last 750 years the herd has had no contact with
other cattle. This isolation and the small size of the
population in the past have lead to a decrease in genetic variability, creating
a genetic bottleneck. (A genetic bottleneck is when
there are few individuals left in a population and the
population experiences a decline in genetic variability
over time. Genetic bottlenecks can have devastating
effects on the variability and fitness of a population).
The Chillingham herd is almost genetically uniform,
but there seems to be no reduction in fertility so far.
An adult Chillingham cow weighs 280
kg on average, compared to American bison, Bison bison,
1360kg and domestic cattle 300-400kg depending on the species.
The small population size of the Chillingham cattle
has most likely brought about the cattle evolving into
a smaller size. Chillingham cows will mature at the age of 3-4 years while
bulls will mature at the age of 18-20 months, and life
expectancy is 17 years for cows and 13 for bulls. This
is compared to American Bison, 18-22 years (or 35-40
years in captivity), and other cattle, 20-50 years depending
on the species, although e.g. a dairy cow will only live
for 4-7 years before worn out and slaughtered, often ending
up as meat for hamburgers.
The Chillingham is a rare opportunity to study the natural
behaviour of cattle practically free from human interference.
The herd is one of a few cattle herds in the world that
has a natural or nearly natural sex ratio and age distribution. Most other
cattle in the world are farmed animals slaughtered at an early age.
Roughly one fourth of the Chillingham females will have
a calf each year. The cows reach reproductive age at the age of 3 to 4, and as the dominant bull normally reigns for 2 to 3 years the chances of inbreeding are fairly low. The cows will
calve away from the herd, and the calf will be introduced
into the herd and initially greeted by the dominant bull. A dam will suckle her calf 4-6
times a day. A Chillingham female calf will suckle until it is nine
months old and stay with its mother for life. A male
is weaned at 12 months old.
In modern day farming the
calves of dairy cows will be taken from their mothers immediately after birth or
sometimes after 1 or 2 days. A dairy cow will be forced to have a calf every year so that she will produce milk, which means she will be pregnant 9 out of 12 to 13 months. The cow will be milked twice or three times
a day instead of having the calf suckle 4-6 times a day.
The intensive methods of farming produce 10,000 liters of milk a year per cow, an average of 27 liters a day (which is 15 times more than what would be produced naturally). This means that the cows are under constant stress, which causes health problems. A high percentage suffers from mastitis, a bacterial infection of the udders, and viruses responsible for respiratory and diarrheal disorder are also common in modern dairies. The high-protein diet they are given (as a diet of grass would not produce as much milk) can cause lameness. Other factors that increase the risk of lameness (which is very high in dairy cows) are abnormally large udders, the environment, feeding habits and housing.
Cattle, if they are allowed to, would spend 4-14 hours
grazing and 9-12 hours lying down. The Chillingham herd
will graze during summer around dusk and dawn and during
mid-morning and early afternoon. During winter there
might be some night-time grazing. The cattle can graze
up to 3 hours at a time and females graze longer than males
in summer.
Diseases and threats
The Chillingham cattle are white with red-brown ears
and markings, and black spotting on the shoulders. They
never seem to have calves that are any other colour,
or even partly coloured. All animals have horns. There
are records of the size of the Chillingham herd dating
back to 1692 and the largest numbers were 80 individuals
in 1838. In 1947, due to a severe winter and previous
droughts leading to a lack of fodder, only 13 individuals
survived. However, as of 2006 the numbers are 62. In
1968 there was an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease
in Northumberland. The disease never reached the Chillingham
herd, but after this threat a small reserve herd (currently
of 12 individuals) was set up near Elgin in north-east
Scotland.
Some welfare implications in the herd are calving difficulties
and abandonment of calves. Several cows died due to
magnesium deficiency in the early 1980s. Therefore, magnesium limestone has been applied to 6 ha of land
each year. Bracken cutting has been carried out since
1992 to increase the supply of herbage. The Chillingham
cattle have been fed hay in the winter since at least
1721, this is because the cattle cannot roam freely
outside the park to seek out enough food to survive
the winter. The hay is purchased from an organic local
farm. The cattle are also fed compound feed approved
by the Soil Association in winter to try to improve
the nutritional status of the calves. The cattle usually
don't go under cover or seek shelter.
The nearest outbreak of the Foot and Mouth disease
in 2001 occurred 10km from Chillingham. In the event
of a future outbreak, vaccination could be an option
under an EU Directive, although he Chillingham Wild Cattle Association (CWCA) has concerns of
the handling of the animals as well as the possible
risks of a vaccine in these homozygous cattle. There
is no evidence of any notifiable diseases in the herd
and the cattle have never been identified with tuberculosis
(an animal health problem currently facing the farming
industry in Great Britain, click here
for further info). Hall et al. (2005) thinks the homozygosity
of the herd might make it highly vulnerable to disease,
although other sources suggest the homozygosity could
make them more resistant. This would probably depend
on the genes and the disease. Since 1950 some diseases
have been investigated in 64 individuals given a
post-mortem examination.
Diseases investigated in the Chillingham herd
Disease investigated
Disease found
Cause of death
Similar disease
in domesticated cattle
Bacterial diseases
Histological
evidence of mild Johne's disease, 1963. Johne's disease,
2005. Bovine tuberculosis not observed
Johne's disease
in 2005
Johne's disease is an infectious condition
caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis. The disease results in diarrhea, severe weight loss, and infertility. It is notifiable in Northern Ireland but not in the rest of the UK. Estimates of herd prevalence of 1% and 17.5% in the UK
Dystocia
1945 - February 2005
Cause of death of 8 cows
or heifers (1.8% of calvings have resulted in the death
of the dam)
5 % of births in dairy cattle,
assistance with calving needed
Ectoparasites
Haematopinus eurysternus
(louse), 1977
No obvious louse infestation
Can cause hair loss, irritation
and loss of body condition in housed cattle at any age
Ostertagia and Dictocaulus
sp. In calves mainly in summer months in their first grazing
season, and sometimes in the later winter months
Hypomagnesaemia
1980. Symptoms: high excitability,
falling over with spasms in the legs, death due to heart
failure
Cause of death of 6 lactating
cows
Mainly in animals on spring
grass (low in Mg content) and occasionally on autumn
grass (foggage or fog fever: when hungry cattle that have been on dry feed for some time are allowed free access to rapidly growing, lush green feed)
Neoplasias
Intraocular melanoma with
secondaries to the liver, 2002
Ocular disease
New forest disease widespread
in the herd in the late 1970s
Commonly associated with
trauma and secondary bacterial infection
New forest disease is an infectious bovine
keratoconjunctivitis, a group of eye
diseases of cattle which can lead to impaired
vision or blindness if left untreated. Causes can be bacteria, viruses, fungi and worms. It can be successfully treated and cleared up overnight.
Signs of the disease are runny and sore eyes with ulcers in the eye surrounded by a
red area. Flies can spread the infection. One prevention is to use eartags
impregnated with insecticide to help control fly infestation
Skeletal and dental
defects
Calf born without a tail,
1999
Testicular hypoplasia
In yearling bulls
Trauma
1945 - 2005
Cause of death of 14 bulls
and females due to injuries caused by other members of
the herd
Trauma is the cause of injury
in domestic cattle due to e.g. overcrowding, stress and
long transports
Possible threat of public access
to the park
The Right
to Roam under the CROW Act 2000 (Countryside and
Rights of Way (CROW)
gives access of open country and registered common land
to the public. The Chillingham Wild Cattle Association
(CWCA)
has submitted a formal application to have the park
closed to public access (under Section
5 of the Act relating to public danger), and is
awaiting a decision on this.
There are several articles about the Chillingham herd
in our database, available from our home
page (search in the data base on the right hand column).
Links, sources and further
reading
The
Chillingham Wild Cattle Association was formed in
1939 to take care of the herd. Another charity, the
Sir James Knott Charitable Trust, owns the land and
has leased the grazing rights to the Chillingham Wild
Cattle Association for 999 years.
Opening times are 1 April until
31 October: Monday-Saturday (excluding Tuesday) 10am-12
noon, Monday-Sunday (excluding Tuesday) 2pm-5pm. See
their website
for up-to-date opening times. admission prices and a
map.
Addresses
Sir James Knott Charitable Trust
Brigadier J.F.F. Sharland
Secretary
Sir James Knott 1990 Trust
16-18 Hood Street
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE1 6JQ
Chillingham Wild Cattle Association
The Secretary
Chillingham Wild Cattle
The Warden's Cottage
Chillingham
Alnwick
Northumberland
NE66 5NP
Hall, S. et al., 2005. Management of the Chillingham
Wild White Cattle. Government Veterinary Journal 15(2):
4-11
Available from here
Visscher, P.M., Smith, D., Hall, S.J.G. and Williams,
J.L., 2001. A Viable Herd of Genetically Uniform Cattle.
Nature 409: 303
Available from here
Hall, S.J.G. and Hall, J.G., 1988. Inbreeding and population
Dynamics of the Chillingham Cattle (Bos taurus). Journal
of Zoology, 216(2): 479-493 abstract available from
here
Hemming, J, 2002. Bos primigenius in Britain: or, why do fairy cows have red ears? - Research Article - Critical Essay, available from here, accessed September 19, 2006
History of cattle
Alderson, L. The Categorization of Types and Breeds
of Cattle in Europe. Archivos de zootecnia, 41(154):
325
Cymbron, T., Freeman, A.R., Malheiro, M.I., Vigne,
J-D. and Bradley, D.G., 2005. Microsatellite Diversity
Suggests Different Histories for Mediterranean and Northern
European Cattle Populations. Proceedings: Biological
Sciences, 272(1574): 1837-1943
Loftus, R.T., MacHugh, D.E., Bradley, D.G., Sharp,
P.M. and Cunningham, P., 1994. Evidence for Two Independent
Domestications of Cattle. PNAS, 91: 2757-2761 Available
from here
Conservation status of wild cattle
A table
showing increasing or declining trends in the different
species, available from here, accessed 19 September 2006
Farming
Viva, 2005, The dark side of dairy, available from here, accessed 19 September 2006
UFAW, 1999. Management and Welfare of Farm Animals,
Halstan & Co, Amersham
Fraser, A.F. & Broom, D.M.,1990. Farm Animal Behaviour
and Welfare. Balliere Tindall, London
DEFRA, 2006. Stats 04/06:
Agricultural and Horticultural census: June 2005, United
Kingdom, available from here, accessed 19 September 2006
Farm Sanctuary, 2005. The welfare of cattle in dairy farming, available from here, accessed 19 September 2006
Guars and Bantengs
WWF, undated, Introducing the Gaur and Banteng, available
from here, accessed 19 September 2006
