Shorthorn Breed of Cow:

The Shorthorn cow is a breed of cattle that was developed in the north eastern part of England at least two centuries ago.



Today this breed can be found in countries across the world, including Australia, Canada, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Argentina. The Shorthorn was developed as a dual purpose breed, meant for both beef and dairy production, but over the years, certain lines of the breed have been favored for beef production, while other lines have been found to be more suited to dairy production. As a result of further selective breeding for either of these purposes, the shorthorn has actually diverged into two separate breeds.



One is known as the Dairy Shorthorn or the Milking Shorthorn, while the other is called the Beef Shorthorn. The Shorthorn has also been used in the development of several other breeds, but its own popularity has persisted.

The first important specimen during the development of the Shorthorn breed is thought to have been born in 1804.



Incidentally, this bull, known as Comet, was the first bull to have been sold for 1000 guineas, a few years later. The Shorthorn breed was developed from Durham cattle in an effort to improve them by crossing them with Teeswater cattle. At the same time, other breeders who dealt in Teeswater cattle were trying to improve this breed too. The combined efforts eventually led to the development of the Shorthorn breed.

Shorthorn cows are typically of average size, and are colored red, white, or roan. White shorthorn cows are however quite rare, and roan is generally the most preferred color. There is however a breed of Shorthorns that is white in color – the White Shorthorn, which is thought to be a more traditional and hardy breed, without any specialization as to beef or dairy production.

Shorthorn cattle are in any case a sturdy, healthy breed with few problems. However, the breed is known to suffer from a genetic disease known as Tibial Hemimelia. The disease causes calves to be born with severe deformities – these include the absence of shin bones, abdominal hernias, and deformation of the skull. Calves born with this disease typically do not survive, and are in fact put down immediately. However, the frequency of this disease among Shorthorn cows is not very high as the gene that causes it is a recessive gene, thus expressing itself only when both parents possess the gene. You can find out more about this disease and how it can be avoided from dedicated sources of Shorthorn information online.