The National Trust’s Wimpole Estate said goodbye to four of its home-bred cattle. White Park bull, Ash Bombardier, with three heifers, Clover, Crocus and Sapphire, are now making their way to Germany.
The cattle have been exported from Cambridgeshire to Arche Warder, a farm park in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Like Wimpole Home Farm, Arche Warder specialises in the restoration of rare breeds of traditional livestock, with some breeds being older than the country borders recognised today.
Ash Bombardier will be the breeding bull for a new herd of White Park Cattle, while Wimpole’s heifers will introduce the 'Ash' blood line into the other White Park herds maintained by Arche Warder. Wimpole Home Farm Manager, Richard Morris, said:
'We are proud that Ash Bombardier was chosen when Arche Warder decided to create a new breeding herd of White Parks. For the survival of a rare breed, it is important that the essential genetics are identified and diversity maintained. To allow this to happen conservation centres like ourselves need to work hard and co-operate to overcome the physical and bureaucratic boundaries to animal movements.'
Wimpole’s Stockman, Mark Field, selected Bombardier at birth three years ago to be grown on to achieve bull status. Mark said:
'Bombardier comes from an important blood line and has developed into a fine animal. He will be missed by Wimpole staff but his mission is to continue the process of restoration so that the breed’s unique characteristics are not lost to the world. I firmly believe that the restoration and survival of a rare breed can be valued in the same way as the restoration of an historic work of art.'
White Park Cattle can be traced back to well before the 16th century. The Ash herd at Wimpole is descended from the Dynevor herd from Dynevor Castle in southern Wales, the home of a Prince of Wales and centre of government from about AD800. Early Welsh law determined the payment of fines by specified numbers of white cattle with coloured points.
Breeding bull, Dynevor Talisman, and 18 heifers of the Ash herd of White Parks remain at Wimpole. During the warmer months, the herd grazes in the historic park land, along with four other herds of rare breed cattle. Visitors to Wimpole Home Farm can see these cattle and other rare breeds of livestock amidst the setting originally created by the Earls of Hardwicke in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Today the farm yard comprises the Great Barn designed by Sir John Soane, other thatched buildings and a Victorian Dairy, alongside the buildings and equipment of a modern working farm.
Wimpole Home Farm is recognised by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as an Approved Conservation Centre. Their joint aim is to promote the value of traditional breeds to the public and represent the importance of the survival of these breeds to Government.
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