Commercial Qualities of the White Park

During their long history White Park cattle have been used for many purposes. They were used a special form of currency; they probably were important as sacrificial animals and as beasts of the chase; they were used as draft animals in the nineteenth century; while in the early twentieth century some herds were milked. There is a record of the last plough oxen in the Dynevor herd being slaughtered in 1871 at fourteen years of age, when he stood six feet at the withers and weighed 23 cwts. His horns measured five feet from tip to tip.

The commercial value of the breed now lies in its beef qualities and its use as a crossing sire. Until recent years little attention was paid to the commercial qualities of the breed by the majority of breeders, but there is now an increasing awareness of its potential value provided that positive development policies are followed.

Ease of Calving

The White Park experiences few problems at calving, either in purebreeding or when used as a crossing sire. A project carried out by the RBST demonstrated that the White Park compares very favourably with other breeds for ease of calving in purebreeding. Results from several commercial herds show that White Park bulls cause scarcely any problems when used as a crossing sire, and the crossbred calves are notably active at birth.

Thriftiness

The breed exists in a wide variety of conditions from lowland meadows with housing in winter, to outwintering on Pennine pastures. It has the ability to grow well on much poorer feeds than modern continental breeds.

Size

The White Park is a large breed, with cows weighing on average around 600kg (12-12'/2 cwt). It is also long in the hindquarters (hip to pin), and this is of value not only for ease of calving, but also for beef production.