Getting Started with Longhorns

Wade Muggleton took the big step of keeping their own cattle and he hasn't looked back!

- Wade Muggleton

Deciding to keep your own cattle is a big decision. For the small holder it’s as big as it gets, livestock wise, and a significant step up from sheep and goats. We have 11 acres in the Shropshire Hills and after a couple of goes at allowing other people to graze our fields including an incident with a failed electric fence and a bunch of cattle decimating a newly planted hedge we decided it was time to take back control and and have our own cattle. It was not a decision taken lightly as the dreaded shadow of TB hangs over our part of the Midlands. However after much research and contemplation we took the plunge and decided to become first time cattle owners… but which cattle to choose?

SO MANY BREEDS…

There are dozens of cattle breeds, both native and from across the globe, so plenty to choose from, but which one to choose for the first-time cattle keepers? There is a view that the older native breeds are hardier, lower maintenance but less productive in all departments than more modern or imported breed. This maybe true to some extent, but for us small holders a number of factors need to he weighed up.

As novice cattle keepers low maintenance and ease of management can be a big consideration, minimum vets bills, less bought in feed and other inputs are also advantageous. So high productivity is not the be all and end all for us small holders.

For us it was never much of a difficult decision - we went for English Longhorns, they were historically Midland cattle and despite once being an endangered breed have seen something of a resurgence with around 18,000 in the UK now. They are renowned for their hardiness, ease of calving and for being excellent mothers. So it was Longhorns for us.