CHAPTER XX 

 BREEDS OF BEEF CATTLE 



The first cattle of which we have any information 

 existed in Europe in prehistoric times. The bones and skele- 

 tons of two very different types of cattle have been found 

 in Great Britain and parts of Europe. One of these was very 

 much larger than the cattle of to-day, and has been called 

 the Giant Ox. The other is much smaller and finer of bone. 

 The skeletons of these two forms are quite similar to the 

 cattle of our own time. Many bones of these animals have 

 been found, and it is believed that even in the stone and the 

 bronze age many thousands of years ago people had cattle 

 more or less domesticated. Pliny and the earliest historians 

 refer to swift and fierce wild bulls, called Uri, that were 

 found in the forests and meadows of Germany and other 

 parts of Europe at the beginning of the Christian era. The 

 early Romans captured specimens of these wild bulls and 

 took them to Rome and used them in their brutal festivities. 



Wild White Cattle have been known in England, Scot- 

 land, and Wales since earliest historical times. These cattle 

 lived in great parks. They had upright horns, were-covered 

 with shaggy hair, and were pure white in color, except the 

 hair about the ears and muzzle, which was usually a dark 

 red or black. Numerous small herds of these cattle are 

 kept to-day in Great Britain, the most famous of which is 

 at Chillingham Park in northeastern England. This herd, 

 which numbers only 60 or 70 animals, runs wild on an estate 

 of 1,100 acres. They have never been tamed, but live by 

 themselves back among the hills in the forests and meadows. 

 It is believed that these wild cattle are descended from the 

 Giant Ox, and are the connecting link between the prehistoric 



217 



