Summary of Article About Dexters

Home     Back to “Summaries of Publications and Articles About Dexters”

"The Changing Geography of Rare Livestock Breeds in Britain"
by Richard Yarwood and Nick Evans

This Paper was published in the journal, Geography, Volume 84, Number 1, 1999, pages 80-91.

At the time of publication, Richard Yarwood and Nick Evans were members of the Geography Department, University College Worcestor.

Introduction (page 80)

In the mid-1980s, farming in Britain started to diversify in the wake of problems experienced by conventional (or "productivist") agriculture - environmental problems, overproduction, high costs of subsidies, and falling farm incomes. A more environmentally-friendly farming ("post-productivist" agriculture) involved diversification into farm shops and tourism. This Paper looks at the impact of this change on the breeds of livestock in Britain, especially rare breeds.

Agricultural Change and Livestock (pages 80-83)

After World War 2, new breeds of livestock were introduced to Britain to fit into newly developing capital-intensive farming systems. One of the best examples of this was the Friesian cattle breed. Many traditional British breeds were viewed as unprofitable or inefficient and fell by the wayside. Between 1900 and 1973, over 26 breeds of farm livestock became extinct in Britain and many others declined dramatically in numbers. Currently [1999], 40% of cattle breeds in Britain are classed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as having "rare" or "minority" status. No more have become extinct and some have actually increased in number (see the Figure below). [This Figure shows a continuing decline in Beef Shorthorn numbers but significant recovery of Belted Galloway, Dexter and Longhorn numbers. Dexters are shown as going from 250 in 1981 to more than 1250 in 1992.]

Figure: Changes in Numbers of Rare Cattle Breeds, 1981 and 1992.

(Click on this Figure and view at largest size to see the details)

Rare breeds have found at least four new roles within post-productivist agriculture:

1) as a tourist attraction, relating to often unusual characteristics such as long horns or distinctive colouring;

2) on "part-time" and "hobby" farms where household members spend some of their time earning income from off the farm - here, where time is a constraint, rare breeds can be reared in outdoors or less intensive settings with minimal supervision, or are kept as pets;

3) as part of sustainable agriculture, "used in the maintenance of certain endangered habitats because they graze differently from modern animals" (page 83), and their unique genetic material is kept as a contribution to biodiversity; and

4) part of a growing emphasis on food quality rather than food quantity - rare breeds may not be as productive as modern breeds but many believe that their produce is superior, leading to the niche marketing of rare breed food. 

The Geographies of Rare Livestock Breeds (pages 84-86)

The authors mapped the location of a number of rare breeds using information from herd and flock books. They noted that non-pedigree animals are excluded from this data. Two distinct types of distributions were noted. They produced maps of the distribution of Gloucester Old Spot pigs, Manx Loghtan sheep, Whitefaced Woodland sheep, Longhorn cattle, Tamworth pigs, and Saddleback pigs to illustrate these.

Breeds Clustered in Particular Places

There are three types of this clustering. First, there are strong concentrations of some breeds in their region of origin, especially for the rarest animals. "Their survival in these places can be linked to a strong degree of local 'brand loyalty'" (page 84) and sometimes breeders may be reluctant to sell outside the county. So Gloucester Old Spot pigs are mainly found in Gloucestershire. This contributes to and reinforces the character of some locales. Secondly, some rare breeds may be found clustering not only in their place of origin but also in other parts of Britain. Manx Loghtan sheep, from the Isle of Man, is a popular exhibit in rare-breed farm parks across Britain. Some of the most rare breeds are dispersed on purpose by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust to make it harder for them to be wiped out by a disease, for instance. So a reserve herd of the unique Chillingham cattle, originating in a small feral herd in Northumbria, has been established in Scotland. Thirdly, some breeds are not clustered in their place of origin but may be found elsewhere. Whitefaced Woodland sheep originally came from the area between Manchester and Sheffield and spread across the western Pennines in the 18th century. But then their distribution became very fragmented as they were replaced by hardier blackfaced sheep. [Although the authors did not comment on Dexters, it would be relevant to note that, to a large extent, Dexter cattle would have had a similar type of distribution pattern up until the end of the 20th century. Dexters originated in south-west Ireland but were then relocated to mainly England at the turn of the 20th century, then reduced in numbers and became more fragmented in distribution until the 1970s when numbers started to pick up again especially in England.]      

Uniform Distribution

"Uniformity of distribution tends to increase as a breed become more popular" (page 85). A good example is Longhorn cattle, which were nearly extinct 20 years ago. [Dexters after the 1970s and Belted Galloways could also be included here, though the authors don't comment on them.] Longhorns are now one of the most popular rare breeds because of their attractiveness in farm parks, their ability to graze harsher areas than modern cattle, they require little intensive support, and fit well into organic forms of farming. Some uniformly distributed breeds continue to show a strong association with their region of origin (e.g., the Tamworth pig, which came from Staffordshire and Wiltshire) while others show a weak association (e.g., Saddleback pigs, which came from the New Forest and Essex but are no longer especially prevalent there). 

Conclusion (pages 86-87)

"It is important to study both economic and cultural influences if a full understanding is to be gained of any aspect of farming change...In the light of changing climatic conditions and uncertain economic futures, studies of the geographies of different livestock and crop strains will have a central role to play in the context of the sustainability of national and global food production" (pages 86-7).

References (page 87)

Include:

Alderson, A., 1990. A Chance to Survive. Bromley: Helm

Evans, N. and R. Yarwood, 1995. "Livestock and Landscape". Landscape Research, 20, 141-146.

Ilbery, B. and I. Bowler, 1998. "From Agricultural Productivism to Post-Productivism" in I. Ilbery (ed.), The Geography of Rural Change. Harlow: Longman.

Small, R., 1995. "Rare Breeds in Habitat Conservation". The Ark, 22, 246-50.

Yarwood, R. and N. Evans, 1998. "New Places for ;Old Spots': The Changing Geographies of Domestic Livestock Animals". Society and Animals, 6, 137-165.

Yarwood, R., N. Evans and J. Higginbottom, 1997. "The Contemporary Geography of Indigenous Irish Livestock". Irish Geography, 30, 7-30.

Back to “Summaries of Publications and Articles About Dexters”