Shetland Cattle History

Shetland cattle have a ancient lineage going back to the Vikings and the cattle they brought over around 700-1100AD, obviously over the years other bloodlines have gone in to the make up of this primitive small to medium sized cow.

They are an ideal smallholders cow as they are very hardy and can happily live on rough grazing all the year round they do not need to be barn wintered although they will use a barn in bad weather as any sensible animal will.

They do not need concentrates and l only give some immediately after calving when the mother is brought in for a few weeks to help the calf get use to people around.

They are excellent mothers with an average of 6 gallons daily issued out for their calf they rarely have any calving problems even heifers have their calf ready and cleaned for inspection in the morning without any real sign calving down.

Some cows will multi-suckle or become house cows which is what the Shetland Island crofters used them for especially during the winter months.

Many a cows kept a whole family alive even when not grazing was available and only dried mackeral and seaweed could be found the cows would produce. They are a long lived breed well into their teenage years having strong family ties, it is said on the island a piece of the owners cloth was tied to the cows horns when they were sold on.

In the winter they have a longer hairy coat which starts growing in August by May they have become sleek and shining with their summer coat, yet all calves are born with a woolly coat what ever time of the year they are born. They have short inward turning horns which are normally white based with a black tip you can get polled cattle.

The majority of them were plain black with white under belly as these sold better on the island which meant that the red, red/white, blue, and dun were lost as the numbers went down. The red and red/white have been bred back in again through a couple of lines the others might turn up. There are several markings also which have been encouraged back in like the spotty markings, riggett ( white line on top of back) and having more white than black on them.

They were original classified as dairy and some lines will produce more milk they were re-classified many years ago as dual-purpose which is is correct for this traditional native breed which is endangered and is listed as critical one with the Rare Breed Survival Trust.