Gloucester
(most common name)
(transboundary/brand name)

(local/other name):
• Gloucestershire
• Old Gloucester
• Old Gloucestershire

The Gloucester has always been a local breed in Gloucestershire county (in southwest England) and is thought to be of the same type and origin as the Glamorgan — a South Wales breed that is now extinct.

The Gloucester was very much in demand in the 1700s when double and single Gloucester cheese was popular. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, it lost numbers due to competition with other breeds, particularly the Longhorn and Shorthorn.

• 1919 - Gloucester breed society formed
• 1920s - Gloucester numbers declined further
• 1923/24 - foot-and-mouth outbreak caused further decline
• 1930s - Gloucester numbers declined further
• 1966 - Gloucester breed society lapsed
• 1972 - Gloucester officially recognized as endangered
• 1973 - Gloucester breed society revived
• 1990s - Gloucester officially classified a dual-purpose breed

When the herdbook was re-established in the 1970s, foundation and grading-up animals were accepted on the basis of visual inspection.

The Gloucester preferred color pattern includes:
• dark mahogany (dark brown or black-brown) body
• white dorsal stripe (finching) extending from the mid-back, down the tail and escutcheon, and along the underside to the brisket

NOTE: A PDO has been awarded for Single Gloucester cheese, which must be manufactured in Gloucestershire, though not necessarily from the milk of Gloucester cows.

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-17

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