British White Cattle

     Since formation in 1987, the British White Cattle Association of America has continued to be the official registry of British White Beef Cattle in the United States. The British White Cattle  Association remains very active today and has never consolidated, merged or united with any other association or entity. The British White Cattle Association is governed by a nine member Board of Directors elected by and from the active members of the association. As an active member you  have the opportunity to participate in a variety of livestock events & industry meetings as well as record your British White Beef Animals in the official registry at reduced rates.

     The value of British White Bulls as sires of beef cattle, are worthy of note by livestock farmers. This provides the strongest Commercial reason for use of British White Bulls on commercial cows; cows will calve easier, calves have higher feed conversion and efficiency and leaner carcasses as now demanded by the American housewife.

     Large breeds may have higher daily gains and weaning weights, but in some cases the disadvantages are more drastic. They may be too big to fit THE BOX if fed to weights to grade. The benefits of speedy growth is of no value unless a live calf is reared. Difficult calving has a marked influence on calf mortality and fertility. This problem is noted in several large breeds. The higher growth rate of crossbred calves sired by large bulls can be more than canceled out by the superior survival rate and lower maintenance requirements of the British White calf.

     The breed of the dam also affects the incidence of hard calving. The crucial fact is the relationship of pelvic size and body size. One critical factor is stump rear legs or straight hocks. Straight hocks in any cow of any breed tend to be accompanied by a square level rump with a pelvic opening of reduced size. A cow with a sloping pelvic girdle and low pin bones is less likely to experience calving problems.

     When Bull Testing Stations were first introduced, bulls were first ranked according to their daily weight gains while on test. In its self this was an inefficient method of evaluation. It took little account of compensatory growth (an unexpected spurt of growth in an animal which has been gaining weight slowly). Even more seriously, it gave no consideration to the efficiency of feed conversion or production of lean meat. The obsession with growth rate resulted in various undesirable side effects which the most important are; increases of the coincidence of calving difficulties and much higher calf mortality. Defects accompany the use of breeds which are becoming popular with the publicity given to higher growth and gain rates. Comparative trials carried out by New Zealand Department of Lands and Survey confirm that had this not been used as the basis of selection these problems could have been solved. The 400 day weight of British White Bulls is 52.3 % of mature weight, in some other breeds this is more like 50.0 %. This is a positive indication of efficiency.

Murray Grey