Hereford cattle

Hereford cattle
A white-faced red bull in a field
Bull near Ufton, in Warwickshire
Conservation statusDAD-IS (2023): not at risk[1]
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Distributionmore than 60 countries[2]
Usebeef
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    1075 kg (2350 lb)[1]
  • Female:
    675 kg (1500 lb)[1]
Height
  • Male:
    152 cm (60 in)[1]
  • Female:
    140 cm (55 in)[1]
Coatred and white
Horn statushorned or polled
  • Cattle
  • Bos (primigenius) taurus

The Hereford is a British breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands of England.[3] It was the result of selective breeding from the mid-eighteenth century by a few families in Herefordshire, beginning some decades before the noted work of Robert Bakewell.[4]: 197 

It has spread to many countries; in 2023 the populations reported by 62 countries totalled over seven million head; populations of over 100000 were reported by Uruguay, Brazil and Chile.[2] The breed reached Ireland in 1775, and a few went to Kentucky in the United States in 1817; the modern American Hereford derives from a herd established in 1840 in Albany, New York.[4]: 197 [5] It was present in Australia before 1850, and in Argentina from 1858. In the twenty-first century there are breed societies in those countries and in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden in Europe; in Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay in South America; in New Zealand; and in South Africa.[4]: 198 

  1. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference dad was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference dad2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Sanders, Alvin H. (1914). The story of the Herefords. Chicago: Sanders Publishing Company. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  4. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference cabi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Early Chronology of the Hereford Breed 1723-1955". The Hereford Herd Book Society. 1995. Retrieved 5 April 2010.