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T he
Roman Legions occupied England in B.C. and stayed there for 400
years. During this time both the Romans and the native Britons maintained
white cattle for sacrificial purposes.
Rome withdrew from the island
in 407 AD, tribal warfare and chaos followed the departure of the
legions and continued until 1066. During this period the white cattle
escaped into the wilderness and reverted to a wild condition. For
700 years they were regarded as wild game animals and were hunted
as such. During this 700 years “natural selection” and “survival
of the fittest controlled the existence of White cattle. Mother
nature decided which animal lived and which one died and which one
reproduced.
The cattle that survived
in each generation were superior - nature killed the others, she
does not compromise. The basic qualities of hardiness, livability,
disease resistance, fertility and feed efficiency enabled a part
of each generation to survive and reproduce themselves. These basic
traits of functional efficiency became more bred-in and more firmly
established with each succeeding generation.
In 1066 England was conquered
and occupied by the Normans. Various kings during the 12th and 13th
centuries awarded large land grants to the church and to members
of their court. Such grants or estates were “emparked”, enclosed
by high fences or walls of stone. This was done to exclude poacher
(the previous owners who had been dispossessed) and to confine and
control as many game animals as possible inside the “Parks”. White
cattle were so “emparked” along with the deer and other game animals.
For another 800 years the
Park cattle, inside the parks, existed just as they did before emparkment.
No effort was made to interfere with nature’s process. The cattle
lived and progressed on their own merit - or they died and did not
reproduce. The surplus was hunted and killed each year. They gradually
became prized possessions and status symbols and were bequeathed
to the owners’ descendants just as were the estates, the family
jewels, the mink coats, the skeletons in the closets and other traditional
items. By mutual agreement, the few owners of Park cattle retained
them closely and their sale and wider distribution was prevented!
For about 700 years, until 1800, the cattle lived and propagated
inside the “Parks” just as they had for the preceding 1000 years
in the wilderness. When domestication and selective breeding started,
the cattle were the result of 1500 years of natural selection. Traits
of survival, hardiness, fertility, disease resistance, and the ability
to live were bred-in and made stronger each generation. The weak
and marginal animals did not survive.
In 1919 the first British
White Park Registry Association was formed. In 1940, one bull and
five cows were sent to the United States as seedstock in event of
a Nazi invasion of England. In about 1960 all Park cattle in the
custody of the U.S Government were sold to the public.
A very few Park cattle had
been brought to this country before this date. By whom and when
is not fully known. Such cattle, along with those sold by the U.S.
Government, are the of all Park cattle in this country. There have
been very recent imports of a few cattle.
A group of breeders formed
the White Park Cattle Association of America in 1975. In the late
80’s, probably 1987 or 1988, some members broke away from the WPCAA
and formed the British White Cattle Association of America. In 1999
the WPCAA and many breeders of the BWCAA reunited to form the American
British White Park Association.
It is the long period of
natural development, as a known and specific breed, that has given
the White cattle their genetic bred-in superiority of functional
efficiency.
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