You may have come across our campaign to raise funds to save our herd of White Park Cattle. Our cows are a real icon of Dinefwr and an important living link to our very long and distant past here. Did you know that they were mentioned in the laws of Hywel Dda (Hywel the Good) over a thousand years ago when he codified the laws of Wales from his seat of power at Dinefwr castle?
A lot of time has passed since then and now there are only around a thousand registered breeding females left in the world; that makes White Park Cattle rarer than the Giant Panda. We urgently need to increase the number of cows in the Dinefwr herd not only to save this magnificent animal from extinction, but to safeguard our links to Welsh history and to sustain the flower rich hay meadows on our estate.
Conservation machines
At the moment we have a lot of land and a herd of just 20 breeding females and 12 young followers. At the National Trust we have a responsibility to conserve our flower-rich hay meadows so that wildlife can thrive in our corner of Wales and beyond.
Since the Second World War, we have lost around 98% of our flowering hay meadows which has had a dramatic effect on biodiversity of wildlife. Traditional breeds of cattle like our White Parks are the ideal tool for conservation grazing which helps to provide and sustain flowering hay meadows, which in turn provides vital habitats for all manner of insects, mammals and birds.
