Beef Shorthorn
(most common name)
(transboundary/brand name):
• Shorthorn
(local/other name):
• Aberdeenshire Shorthorn (historical)
• Korthoring (Afrikaans)
• Scotch
• Scotch Shorthorn
• Scottish Shorthorn
Important Shorthorn History
In England in the 1500s, red-and-white and red cattle, originally from stock imported from the Netherlands, became the basis of the Shorthorn. These cattle, found primarily in Yorkshire and neighboring County Durham in northern England, included Teeswater and Holderness cattle.
Teeswater: Noted for short horns and extraordinary milk yields, this type of cattle was found on both sides of the River Tees in north Yorkshire and County Durham. They were named Teeswater (also, Durham) following their improvement in the 1600s and 1700s. Teeswater cattle were described as:
• large
• thin-skinned
• slow to fatten
• having
poor carcass and meat quality
Holderness: Noted for robust conformation, this type of cattle was found in Holderness (a formerly marshy area on the east coast of England, in the East Riding of Yorkshire). They were named Holderness and were described as:
• large
• long-legged
• lacking in substance
• rather bony
In the 1700s, Holderness cattle were popular in London dairy herds and used as speedy draught oxen; they also matured early with deep fleshing. Possibly their improvement came from selective breeding using Norman or Alderney cattle.
All the Shorthorn breeds of today evolved from Teeswater and Holderness cattle which were systematically improved with selective breeding techniques starting in the 1700s. Initially, improvement was directed towards dual-purpose qualities. These techniques were then adopted by other breeders with some of them selecting specifically for better milk production and others for better beef.
As a group, all these cattle were named ‘Shorthorn’ to identify them as a general British type of shorthorned cattle (not a singular breed name).
The first pedigree herdbook in the world specifically for cattle, published by George Coates in 1822, was for the Shorthorn. (Herdbooks document the development of different cattle breeds by keeping track of the sires, dams, offspring and use of blood.)
• 1849 - first history of Shorthorn cattle written and published in French
• 1874 - Shorthorn Society of Great Britain and Ireland established
• 1878 - first history of Shorthorn cattle written in English
Shorthorn-type cattle in the UK now consists of four breeds:
• Beef Shorthorn
• Dairy Shorthorn
• Northern Dairy Shorthorn
• Whitebred Shorthorn
Beef Shorthorn
Thomas Booth (on farms in Killerby and Warlaby in Yorkshire) began breeding purebred Shorthorn cattle around 1790 after purchasing bulls from the Colling brothers, who lived nearby. Focus was placed on fleshing qualities. Over time, the Booth family produced a line of beef-type Shorthorns, fixed by linebreeding, with emphasis on thickness of flesh and strength of back and loin.
Then, Amos Cruikshank (1808–1895) in Aberdeenshire, Scotland used Booth-type cattle to develop what finally became known as the Beef Shorthorn.
As a popular terminal sire, the Beef Shorthorn was used primarily on dairy cows (producing steers that were finished intensively for beef at 15–18 months of age). Its main purpose now is as a crossing sire to breed suckler cows.
• 1940s and 1950s - a strong export market existed using Beef Shorthorns for improvement
• 1958 - a separate section of the Shorthorn herdbook was opened for beef cattle
• early 1960s - export trade of Beef Shorthorn ceased; type and carcass traits were not acceptable due to changed preferences of both breeders and consumers
• 1976–2001 - Beef Shorthorn Cattle Society sanctioned use of Maine-Anjou crosses in an effort to solve this
Beef Shorthorn coat colors include:
• red
• red-and-white
• roan
• white
In the late 1800s in the USA, polled Shorthorn cattle were produced as a variety of Beef Shorthorn; a herdbook was published until 1917.
A variety of Beef Shorthorn, known as Poll Shorthorn, was found in Australia with a herdbook established in 1935. However, as of 2024 it is no longer listed.
This page was last updated on: 2024-09-06
You can also go to:
My Daily Cow® Scotland and read about other Scottish cattle breeds.
The Cow Wall® A-Z Cattle Breed Picture Reference to see other breeds of cattle in the world.