Shorthorn Research Paper

Shorthorn

The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late 18th century. The breed was developed as dual-purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however, certain blood lines within the breed always emphasised one quality or the other. Over time, these different lines diverged, and by the second half of the 20th century, two separate breeds had developed – the Beef Shorthorn, and the Milking Shorthorn. All Shorthorn cattle are coloured red, white, or roan, although roan cattle are preferred by some, and completely white animals are not common. However, one type of Shorthorn has been bred to be consistently white – the Whitebred Shorthorn, which was developed to cross with black Galloway cattle

The Shorthorn Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1874, and purchased the copyright of the herd book from Stafford. They have continued to compile and publish Coates's Herd Book ever since. The American Shorthorn Herd Book was the first to be published in the United States for any breed and was started in 1846, with the formation of the American Shorthorn Association following 26 years later in 1872.Some Shorthorns have been found to have a genetic defect called tibial hemimelia (TH), a disease caused by an abnormal gene. TH was identified in a small number of Shorthorn cattle in Canada in 1999. It is characterised by severe deformities in newborn calves, which are born with twisted rear legs with missing tibias (shin bones) and fused joints, large abdominal hernias, and often skull deformities. They cannot stand to suckle and must be destroyed. All the affected animals descend from a single individual. The gene involved is recessive: the disease occurs only when homozygous (two copies of the gene are present); heterozygous (carrier) animals show no symptoms, but are likely to be much more widespread in the population than affected animals.[4]Today, the breed is found mainly in English-speaking countries, and Southern South America. The main countries are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand,

More purebred Shorthorns were imported into NSW in 1825 by Potter McQueen of Scone.[3] Nine months later, the Australian Agricultural Company imported additional Shorthorns, and in the 1930s, Thomas Simpson Hall, the breeder of the Halls Heeler, imported Durham Shorthorns from which he developed extensive herds of Poll Shorthorns.[5]

The breed has a wide genetic base, resulting in the development of several distinct though closely related strains – these are the traditional strains:

Beef Shorthorn

Poll Shorthorn

Durham

Milking or Dairy Shorthorn

Australian Shorthorn

The current Shorthorn Society of Australia encompasses the Poll Shorthorn, Australian Shorthorn, and Durham.

Many other beef cattle breeds have used Shorthorn genetics in the development of new breeds such as the Belmont Red[3] and Santa Gertrudis