By Sue Weaver
Have you ever stare upon a Randall Lineback cow ? Probably not . The Randall Lineback is America ’s most critically endanger bovine breed .
Yet heritage Randall Linebacks — also live as Randall Cattle , Randall Blues and Randall Lineback Blues — have a lot to offer today ’s hobby James Leonard Farmer , include the opportunity to aid preserve one of America ’s last outlive landrace cattle breed .
“ Landrace ” consult to a race of plant or fauna developed in a specific locale and ideally accommodate for the surroundings where it lives .
To fine - melodic phrase the definition , landrace farm animal breeds are those that adapt to regional environments and to the demands of their work requirements with minimal human treatment , or that explicate at the hands of humans using traditional , rather than advanced , breed proficiency .
Most landrace horses , cows , sheep , pigs and goat are multi - purpose inheritance breeds , and many are now extinct or endangered .
case-by-case animals within a landrace breed are similar enough in phenotype ( how they look ) to be recognisable as member of a bona fide breed , yet they show considerable variation in character . This is because as landrace stock evolved , social function was more important than form . reckon the Border Collie , a landrace breed of working dogs break in Scotland to crowd sheep . Purebred Border Collies vary in size , case and coat duration because they ’ve been pick out for practical herding ability , not to get together a set of show - ring criteria .
© Chapel Hill Randall Linebacks / Ron & Diane Salmon
America has her share of landrace stock breeds , such as Hog Island and Navajo - Churro sheep ; Rocky Mountain and Spanish Colonial horses ; Mulefoot hogs ; and Tennessee Fainting Goats . But of the scores of landrace cattle breeds developed during her early chronicle , only a few remain : Pineywoods and Florida Cracker cattle descended from colonial Spanish stock , and New England ’s fearless Randall Lineback .
In the BeginningDuring the early- to mid-1600s , the antecedent of today ’s Randall Linebacks arrived on our easterly seacoast aboard sailing ships from points throughout Europe .
However , merchant marine cattle by sea was costly ( and bad ) , so as import cows interbred and multiplied in sufficient number to supply settler with house cows , meat and oxen , importations largely discontinue until the mid-19th century .
During the interim , landrace populations developed everywhere cattle were kept .
Meanwhile , specialized , purebred beef and dairy farm kine were being developed in Great Britain and Europe .
© Chapel Hill Randall Linebacks / Ron & Diane Salmon
The golden age of North American landrace cattle last until the mid-1800s , when purebred cattle were imported in sizeable numbers .
By the turn of the 20th century , American register extol the virtues of beefy Shorthorns , Herefords and Angus , and of specialized dairy breeds such as Ayrshires , Jerseys , Guernseys and Holsteins .
Farmers responded by shift to the new wundercows or upgrade their landrace herds with registered bulls . Gradually , specialized beef and dairy farm breed take over New England ’s landrace kine — the Creampots , the Columbias and Canadienne cows from nearby Quebec — but through the attempt of one family , a exclusive landrace stock live .
In 1912 , Samuel Randall , his wife May and his 7 - year - old son , Everett , took up residence on a farm near Sunderland , Vt . For the next three - quarter of a century , the kin go a farm where they worked their fields , sugared , logged with draft horse and operated a 22 - stanchion dairy farm .
Where Samuel Randall obtained his original cattle is n’t clear , but we do do it the Randalls , father and boy , chose not to “ better ” them with new beef or dairy farm bulls . The Randalls maintained a shut herd of try out - and - true , multipurpose landrace kine they developed on their Sunderland farm . “ Our Linebacks ” the Randalls call them . They were the prototype of today ’s Randall Lineback cattle .
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy(919 ) 542-5704www.albc-usa.org/
Randall Cattle Registry and Breed Associationwww.randallcattleregistry.org/phil@randallcattleregistry.org
Randall Lineback Breed Associationwww.randalllineback.com/info@randallineback.com
Cynthia ’s Randall Cattle Pageswww.cynthiasrandallcattle.com/
Randall Linebacks at the Chapel Hill Farmwww.randalllineback.org/
Randall Lineback Cattlewww.randall-linebacks.org/www.hamiltonrarebreeds.org/www.merckforest.org/
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As continued out - cross laid waste to other landrace cattle breeds , Samuel and Everett Randall continue cover their cattle in genetic isolation . Their Linebacks were medium - sizing , multi - purpose cattle—“milky ” enough to give two gallons of mellow - butterfat Milk River per daylight on a grass - establish diet and beefy enough to bring home the bacon good eating .
They were teachable oxen , level-headed and easy to work with when handled on a day-to-day basis . Cows gave birth to calves without assistance and illness was rare .
According to George Randall , Everett ’s son and Randall Lineback Breed Association Board member , the elder Randalls take for Lineback color as much as anything else .
Then , as now , the Randalls ’ Linebacks were tick off with brockled ( roan - like ) patches of colour on a white background . The amount of brockling varied ; colors included black , blue or occasionally red . Color happen on the Linebacks ’ side , muzzles , ears , center band and sometimes their feet .
When Everett Randall died in 1985 , the herd he and his beginner created was contain of the last endure landrace cattle in New England . And the herd was imperiled .
Everett ’s wife was ineffectual to deal for the animate being , so part of the oxen went to slaughter . A serving went to other herd , admit a modest mathematical group to a couple in western Massachusetts who planned to help keep up them . When they lost pastime , they put the remaining beast up for sales agreement . At that point the Randall Lineback ’s future was bare .
Cynthia Saves the RandallsThen fortune smiled upon the breed . Cynthia Creech , now President of the Randall Cattle Registry and Breed Association and then of Artemis Farm in Jefferson City , Tenn. , purchased those last nine cow and six bulls .
With the supporter of Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and the Virginia - Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine , who germinate a breeding communications protocol for her cows , Creech threw her nerve and mortal into conserving the remnants of the Randalls ’ extinguish ruck , which she dubbed Randall cows .
Randall CattleMembers of the Randall Cattle Registry and Breed Association refer to their brute as Randall cattle or Randalls . According to the Randall Cattle FAQ page at their WWW site ( www.randallcattleregistry.org/ ): “ Since the rescue of the Randalls from the Randall farm in 1985 , and the re - delivery by Cynthia Creech in 1987 , several epithet have been applied to the cattle , ‘ Randall Lineback ’ , ‘ Randall Blue ’ , ‘ Randall Blue Lineback ’ , and ‘ Randall ’ . In the early days there was no Randall ‘ authority ’ , just Cynthia , who owned most of the animals , and ALBC represented by Phil Sponenberg who was supplying breeding advice for her fledgling ruck . Several names were tried out during that geological period but none was applied to the stock by any sort of unionise operation involving the interested parties .
“ In the mid 1990 ’s , when for several years the only Randall breeders were Cynthia Creech and Phil and Dianne Lang , serious lecture begin about the breed name . Around 1997 the consensus was that the strain would be called ‘ Randall ’ , and this was what they were ring in a 1999 article in the Small Farmer ’s Journal call “ Randall Cattle . ”
This was further codify in the writing of bylaw for a breed Registry in 2000 , and its subsequent internalisation in early 2001 .
“ It was apparent very early on that the use of the Book ‘ grim ’ or ‘ Lineback ’ in the breed name was a beginning of peachy mix-up . Very few of the Randalls were really gamy , ( and the word ‘ profane ’ conjure unintended connections to the unrelated Belgian Blue breed ) , and the countersign lineback produce almost universal associations with the American Lineback and other lineback patterned strain . Also clouding the issue was the illation that “ Lineback ” was a “ definition ” of the Randall breed when in fact their color pattern was only one characteristic of an otherwise decided and unique stock . ”
Randall LinebacksRandall Lineback Breed Association breeders call their kine Linebacks because that ’s what the Randall family call them . Says Randall Lineback Breed Association President , Joe Henderson , “ It ’s a name that has served the breed well for a century . ”
In improver , the State of Vermont has designated the Randall Lineback the State Heritage Breed of Vermont .
Randall / Randall LinebacksThe American Livestock Breeds Conservancy calls them Randall / Randall Linebacks on the ALBC Watch List .
So which is correct ? Either … or both .
The herd grew . In 1994 , Creech sold two heifers — the first she felt ready to part with — to Dianne and Phil Lang of South Kent , Conn. , who already owned three Randalls and dream of establishing an organic dairy farm operation with the breed ( which they have now done ) .
Over the next few years , 11 more herds were founded with bulls and heifers from Creech ’s ruck . In 2000 , Cynthia Creech was constitute The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy ’s “ Conservationist of the Year . ”
However , developed as they were for New England ’s cooler climate , Creech ’s Randalls suffered through Tennessee ’s six - month , swelter summers . She vow to retrovert the oxen to their natural environment , and in 2002 she and her ruck steer north . Their first stop was Chapel Hill Farm in Berryville , Va. The herd outride there for two years before Creech and some of the cattle move on to South Kent , Conn. , where she manages Rock Cobble Farm , now home to more than 100 head of purebred Randall Cattle .
Through Cynthia Creech ’s sacrifice and effort , this aliveness part of story pull round . When asked for her take on the Bos taurus she ’s devoted her aliveness to saving , Creech respond , “ Randall cattle are one of the few breeds that keep on their natural instincts and characteristic . They illustrate the congenital traits of cattle raised on native New England subsistence farms . Calving ease , mothering ability , grazing efficiency , milk production and good health for many years are part of their package . Randalls have not been diminished through the single trait selection of distinctive innovative agribusinesses . These cattle still have sex how to be cow in an efficient , working and effective means . They are perfectly suited for — are in fact made to be – family cows or Milk River cows on little , grass - based dairy farms . ”
And what , we demand , can we do to help this rarest of heritage breed survive ? “ The Randall breed , ” she articulate , “ postulate dedicated , long - terminus breeders who think that the characteristics of these cattle are to be valued and preserved just as they are . These cows , as all heritage breeds , should not be changed to accommodate into an single stock breeder ’s mold , but rather celebrated and saved for the marvelous survivors that they are . ”
Randall Linebacks at Chapel Hill FarmJoe Henderson , President of the Randall Lineback Breed Association and proprietor of Chapel Hill Farm , is one such breeder . He buy part of Creech ’s cattle during her visit in Virginia and through aggressively work to increase their numbers , has institute the largest herd of purebred Randall Linebacks in the humanity .
Like Creech , he hopes creditworthy farmers inquire the breed because he believes that increasing their universe and plant herd in other parts of North America is of vital importance . “ Randall Linebacks , ” he enounce , explain this view , “ will be insure survival of the fittest when their numbers have make 1,000 in at least five geographically come apart herd . At that point , by definition , the Randall Linebacks will be beyond harm ’s mode from any private calamity , human or otherwise .
“ The Gordian gnarl of the Randall Linebacks , and of all extremely rare breeds , ” he continues , “ is that no one has known what they were good for in today ’s world because there were so few around . In my legal opinion , and in the opinion of others in the Randall Lineback Breed Association , the only direction out of this quandary is to get enough Randall Linebacks so that two things can occur : a determination sufficient to require a thousand engender Randall Linebacks can be found and that enough Randall Linebacks can be produced initially to supply substantial need . ”
He go on to say , “ This fall , Randall Linebacks are getting the proverbial ‘ job ’ so necessary to a rare strain ’s survival . Randall Linebacks from Chapel Hill Farm — with card ascription no less — will seem as exceptional seasonal foods at 10 of Washington D.C. ’s fine restaurants . The acceptance of Randall Lineback uprise - veal by a chosen number of great chefs , which will mature by selection each year , is decisive to the Randall Lineback ’s selection . My hope is that , once a viable securities industry has been pioneered , big and geographically freestanding new herds have by others can then be created and supported by the marketplace . ”
Chapel Hill Farm ’s rose - veal is the lean , delicately - grained , tender and tasty , pink human body of 200- to 250 - pound , 8 - month - old Randall Lineback steers , pasture - evoke without increment hormone or medicated provender . To give rise it — and to decide which calf to slaughter and which to keep on for breeding origin — Chapel Hill Farm maintains all-encompassing records on their oxen . supervise weight gain is only part of the picture ; every Chapel Hill Randall Lineback is given a qualitative conformation rating of one to five . The best bull sura are continue for breeding ; the highest - rated cows are flushed and bred to several bull . While all of the line represent in the Chapel Hill Farm herd are keep through on-going breeding , the crème de la crème of the animal are used to increase the breed ’s overall population at a faster rate .
“ Using every advanced reproductive proficiency , ” Henderson tells us , “ admit embryo transference , as well as the finest methods of traditional beast farming , including grazing 100 of landed estate of receptive pastureland and offering the purest limestone - natural spring water , we ’ve bred , calved and promote more Randall Linebacks in the past two age alone than pass off in the previous 10 - twelvemonth history of the strain . ”
Henderson accredit much of this success to Chapel Hill ruck director , Noah Travers , “ a gentleman who really knows cattle ” and to the Randall Linebacks themselves . “ Randall Linebacks are beautiful animal , ” he tell us , smiling . “ When I appear upon the Randall Linebacks in my field , I ’m looking at a view that could be three hundred years old . ”
Would n’t you value that horizon from your back chiliad ? There are fewer than 300 Randalls / Randall Linebacks in existence . This is the most critically endangered breed of Bos taurus on the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy ’s Watch List . Responsible curator - breeders are naughtily needed . One of them could be you .
