Chillingham Cattle

T

TriDV

Well-Known Member
Have any zoo chatters visited the Chillingham estate? I would like your thoughts about whether it's worth a trip and whether the breed is zoologically important. *See the link below....., the website makes some big claims about how rare and unique they are.
Thanks.

Chillingham Castle
 
As a breed of domestic cattle they are pretty much unique,and they are also probably in terms of behaviour the closest that you will see in this country to wild cattle!As for how rare they are yep they are rarer than Giant Panda and Mountain Gorilla,I would say that in terms of numbers they are less than 500!
I have never visited the place but its a place that I want to visit.
 
Not perhaps zoologically important in that they are a rare breed of domestic cow, but they are interesting.

To all intents and purposes wild animals, they are massive, aloof and incredibly dangerous-you certainly could not walk amongst them-I believe you view them in a massive walled enclosure.

Perhaps the best description I heard of them was that they are the closest analogy today to the Aurochs.

Archibald Thorburn painted some pictures of Park Cattle which were what first interested me in them. A Farm near me kept a herd of Charolais cattle which are of a similar size and they are impressive beasts.
 
My understanding of White Park Cattle in general is that they are effectively white Aurochsen, only smaler. Charolais are surely more massive in build, and [always?] polled.
It is likely that any breed of cattle not handled, and left to their own devices, would show the same behaviour. My evidence for this is that bantams reared by a Junglefowl behave like wild birds, and I would expect cattle that were not socialised to people from an early age, to do the same.
 
TriDV said:
Have any zoo chatters visited the Chillingham estate? I would like your thoughts about whether it's worth a trip and whether the breed is zoologically important.
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I have, though it was many years ago now.(early 1970's) I imagine the facilities may be a bit different now though it still says you are taken in 'with the Warden' as we were- I imagine it may be in a vehicle though nowadays(?) instead of on foot as we were. I remember it was very remote so quite hard to find, not advertised at all and in those days closed on Tuesdays- the day we went of course being a Tuesday but fortunately the warden kindly arranged to take us to see them anyway, knowing we had made a journey specially.

We viewed the cattle from a considerable(safe) distance- a hundred yards at least, probably more I think. Possibly they go a bit nearer nowadays if in a vehicle? I remember there was a cow with a (blind) calf seperate from the others- the warden said she would be particularly dangerous to go anywhere near.

The park itself is set mostly on a steep hillside, in rolling wooded Northumberland countryside and enclosed by a long high wall. The cattle share it with sheep and, I think, fallow deer also though I saw none of the latter- plenty of sheep though. There were about fifty cattle in those days but I believe the herd has grown again since and there is a also a small 'insurance' herd somewhere in Scotland nowadays. It was very interesting to see them and I'm sure you would find it so too. I hoped to revisit when I was in that area more recently but there wasn't time.

Regarding their Zoological interest- I believe now they are now the only surviving herd of Wild White Cattle in UK, at least still living in their ancestral home. The other four herds which were all of considerably less antiquity, were the Chartley, Cadzow, Vaynol and Dyvenor. I think they have all been disbanded though part of one herd(Cadzow?) is still owned by (I think) Leeds City Council and lives in a park outside the city. Some of the Chartley herd were also to be found at Whipsnade some decades ago(1950's era?) The Chillinghams though are much wilder than the cattle of those other herds.

The Chillingham Cattle are far older and can trace their ancestry back much further than the others. The Chillinghams are also smaller than the others and the females have reddish 'points' (ears etc), whereas all the others had black.
 
I visited in 2005, under the old system for visitors that Pertinax mentioned. I was very fortunate in being the only visitor at the time, so I had a short ride in the Warden's Land Rover from the Hemmel through the valley where the herd were grazing, which was a real privilege, as exciting and memorable as a 20 minute safari :D
I had only had my first digital camera for a few months but I still like some of my photos; I have just added a couple to the Gallery.





For recent news see Rare Than Giant Pandas: Chillingham Cattle Numbers Rise Above 100 For First Time Since 1860 - Sky Tyne and Wear

A visit is thoroughly recommended, provided that you are ready for a bit of a hill walk.

Alan
 
Pertinax said:
I have, though it was many years ago now.(early 1970's) I imagine the facilities may be a bit different now though it still says you are taken in 'with the Warden' as we were- I imagine it may be in a vehicle though nowadays(?) instead of on foot as we were.
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When I went a couple of years ago it was still only accessible on foot. I can also agree on the remoteness of it all; the place has (I recall) a parking area at the base of a hill and then it is several hundred metres hiking up a wooded hill towards the visitor centre (in reality a couple of barns containing some Chillingham skulls). I would still recommend it a lot- I would personally count it as a wildlife encounter, rather than seeing domestic animals
 
As an ex geordie I visited about 17 years ago and saw nothing they were too remote and we couldn't get any closer It may have changed now, and if they do tours etc that is worth considering.

The house was one of the worst i have ever visited and I couldn't wait to get out it featured on the satellite TV programme the Guest wing, the owner is very opinionated and rude.
 
I forgot to mention there are some stuffed ones in the Hancock museum in Newcastle or there where before it had a revamp. Cattle, not past custodians.
 
gentle lemur said:
I visited in 2005, under the old system for visitors that Pertinax mentioned. I was very fortunate in being the only visitor at the time, so I had a short ride in the Warden's Land Rover from the Hemmel through the valley where the herd were grazing, which was a real privilege, as exciting and memorable as a 20 minute safari :D
Click to expand...

It doesn't sound like too much has changed then. We probably went in a Landrover and then got out- I can't remember that far back! But like you, we found it was a very interesting and unique experience

The Castle and the Park all used to be owned by the Earls of Tankerville but I believe the estate has been split up since and the cattle are owned/operated by a Trust- I don't know about the 'castle' but it looked very dilapitated and semi-closed up when we went- quite a foreboding place really.

Does anyone know where the 'satellite' herd in Scotland is located?
 
Pertinax said:
Regarding their Zoological interest- I believe now they are now the only surviving herd of Wild White Cattle in UK, at least still living in their ancestral home. The other four herds which were all of considerably less antiquity, were the Chartley, Cadzow, Vaynol and Dyvenor. I think they have all been disbanded though part of one herd(Cadzow?) is still owned by (I think) Leeds City Council and lives in a park outside the city. Some of the Chartley herd were also to be found at Whipsnade some decades ago(1950's era?) The Chillinghams though are much wilder than the cattle of those other herds.

The Chillingham Cattle are far older and can trace their ancestry back much further than the others. The Chillinghams are also smaller than the others and the females have reddish 'points' (ears etc), whereas all the others had black.
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Not ever seen the Chillingham cattle I may be wrong, but I believe that they are examples of early domesticated animals gone feral. Dingoes, mouflon and Cretan wild goats are also examples of largely unmodified domesticated animals which have spread via humans to a 'new' area. While I appreciate that Aurochs were native to the UK, there is a definite gap between fossil/sub-fossil remains and the known history of the Chillingham cattle. The fact that they are also white and not as large as the remains of Aurochs also suggests they are are not remnants of a British population of Aurochs. Close but then aren't Heck cattle (well not British per se)?
 
As far as I am aware, all European cattle are thought to be descended from aurochs. While I agree that the ancestors of the Chillingham cattle must have been domesticated to some degree; the key points about them are that they have been confined in Chillingham Park for centuries, which is effectively an enormous walled enclosure (they had to deter Scottish raiders ;)) and that their breeding has never been managed in any way - no new stock has been added and the bulls compete very strongly for access to the cows, which seems to have been effective in reducing the problems caused by inbreeding. No wonder Darwin was interested by them.
In consequence, the behaviour and genetics of these animals are likely to be much more similar to those of the aurochs than more modern selectively bred cattle.

Alan
 
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I'd never heard of these cattle until this post. Thanks for all of the info above as this is very interesting.
 
I've been twice fairly recently, both times on foot. I think its well worth the trip. First time must have been 2001, because they were very worried about foot and mouth.

The only interaction they have with humans is that in winter hay is left out for them, I got the impression they only do that when the weather is very bad. Otherwise have nothing to do with people.

Heck Cattle were created experimentally, these guys are a landrace that have been living essentially wild for hundreds of years.

They were featured on The Living Planet. Here is the clip.
BBC Two - The Living Planet, New Worlds, Chillingham cattle
 
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tetrapod said:
Not ever seen the Chillingham cattle I may be wrong, but I believe that they are examples of early domesticated animals gone feral.
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No, you are right. Their exact origin isn't known but I've heard they may have been descended from cattle brought here by the Romans. What is known is the Chillingham Cattle have been in that Park, and untouched, for many centuries and are therefore of much greater antiquity than the other four herds of Wild white cattle that are/were until recently kept in the UK.
 
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At one time (say early 1970s) all 'White Park' cattle [i.e. park cattle which were white with black/red ears and horned] tended to be regarded as a single breed. But it was very clear that the Chillingham cattle were very distinctive and were not usefully classified as the same breed.

Gradually it's become clear that the Vaynol cattle were also very distinctive so they are now recognised as a separate 'breed'.

The other longstanding sources - Dynevor, Cadzow, Chartley - are considered to be more domestic and more of a single 'type'.
 
Thought I would bump this thread as I finally got up to Northumberland for the 'summer' family holiday - side note 1 : I cannot recommend Northumberland enough as a destination. Lovely and quiet. But don't be expecting wall-to-wall sunshine.

Anyway I had known a bit about the Chillingham cattle since I was very young, and lived half way around the planet, so I was very interested to finally see them. Basically as others have mentioned there is a steep walk through several fields to get to the ranger station (very disease-conscious; no sign of TB in local badgers/livestock currently). You get up to half an hour in the enclosed area on foot with the ranger. Most of the info is the usual stuff trotted out. However what I took out of it:
* They are such small cattle. Reinforces my point that they aren't a remnant Aurochs which were huge, but an early feral cattle. Maybe Roman (given the large presence in the region, it's possible).
* They are all effective clones and inbreeding doesn't seem to be causing any deleterious effect on their health. They drop a single calf each with no problems. Cannot remember how many cattle at Chillingham (80?) but it's not big.
* Scottish sub population is a secret location, to prevent against losing entire herd.
* Nearby castle doesn't have any current links to cattle, but obviously there is quite alot of history together along with paintings and stuffed heads of the cattle. Side note 2 : saw another Chillingham cattle head on the weekend closer to home at Avebury manor!
* Heard the bulls roaring, both while we were in the field and as we were leaving. Eerily, hairs on the back of the neck stuff.
Conclusion - it isn't a zoo, and the visit is for half an hour. But as a piece of natural history evoking a time when the island was cloked in woodland, lovely and cannot be beaten.
 
tetrapod said:
Thought I would bump this thread as I finally got up to Northumberland for the 'summer' family holiday - side note 1 : I cannot recommend Northumberland enough as a destination. Lovely and quiet. But don't be expecting wall-to-wall sunshine.

Anyway I had known a bit about the Chillingham cattle since I was very young, and lived half way around the planet, so I was very interested to finally see them. Basically as others have mentioned there is a steep walk through several fields to get to the ranger station (very disease-conscious; no sign of TB in local badgers/livestock currently). You get up to half an hour in the enclosed area on foot with the ranger. Most of the info is the usual stuff trotted out. However what I took out of it:
* They are such small cattle. Reinforces my point that they aren't a remnant Aurochs which were huge, but an early feral cattle. Maybe Roman (given the large presence in the region, it's possible).
* They are all effective clones and inbreeding doesn't seem to be causing any deleterious effect on their health. They drop a single calf each with no problems. Cannot remember how many cattle at Chillingham (80?) but it's not big.
* Scottish sub population is a secret location, to prevent against losing entire herd.
* Nearby castle doesn't have any current links to cattle, but obviously there is quite alot of history together along with paintings and stuffed heads of the cattle. Side note 2 : saw another Chillingham cattle head on the weekend closer to home at Avebury manor!
* Heard the bulls roaring, both while we were in the field and as we were leaving. Eerily, hairs on the back of the neck stuff.
Conclusion - it isn't a zoo, and the visit is for half an hour. But as a piece of natural history evoking a time when the island was cloked in woodland, lovely and cannot be beaten.
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It's possible that a pure population of white Aurochsen might have reduced in size over many generations in a restricted habitat. Look at certain island species that have got smaller.
 
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