By Alex Smirnoff
The 13mm worth of rain mentioned last week quickly burned off and this week I have watched in horror as several bushfires took hold in our area, one burning over 9000 acres less than 20km from home, the other burning through a front of about 20km but thankfully quickly brought under control and back burnt by our wonderful rural firies.
On the Rare Breeds front I have decided to proceed with organising this year’s auction to raise funds for our Future Farms Fund (Genebank), to be held on AuctionsPlus from 15 to 21 May 2023. Our application for DGR status, a process which has been going on for over 10 years, has failed yet again
despite some guidance from David Lister.
This time it was rejected by the Department of Environment as it just did not fall into their categories. So here we are, once again, on our own. We receive no government funding or support in any way. Australia refuses to recognise that we need the heritage breeds of domestic livestock for genetic diversity and a gene bank to safeguard our agricultural future in the event of a biosecurity threat.
I would like to ask very much for your support, however. If you are an individual or have a business with goods or services that can be donated for our auction I would love to hear from you. I am donating a two night stay in Glenlyon Dam Holiday Cottage again this year. Last year the Trust was grateful for donations from local businesses including Kent Saddlery, Darling Downs Zoo, Riverina Stockfeeds, Wilshire and Co and Woods Stockfeeds.
Donations of rare breed semen are also very welcome. We have a policy that benefits the donor by storing a certain amount of the semen for them to access in the event of something happening to their bull or herd, as well as safeguarding the breed for the future.
Our friendly goanna has returned and eaten all of the guinea fowl eggs, so hopefully he might be full for a while. The guineas have found a new spot to lay their eggs, of course, although I haven’t found where it is yet. A guest reported seeing a yellow-faced whip snake near the chook pens earlier this week. I wouldn’t know one of these if I fell over it but I guess its a big improvement on finding any more brown snakes.
Someone pulled the plug out of the bathtub, to the tune of 200 ML/day plus fire fighting water.
Glenlyon Dam is releasing water for cotton crops downstream and quite a few water bombers have also been filling up to help with fighting the Arcot fire mentioned above. It is surprising how quickly the water is draining away from our end of the dam.
In my garden at the moment it is survival of the fittest. Watermelons are in strong supply but tomatoes have succumbed to blossom end rot and some sort of grub. Yellow beetroot, small but delicious, has been on the menu for a while. Giant garlic and potatoes are hiding underground. The beans have done a runner and you can’t beat the good old silver beet, although I think it is doing well as we don’t eat it much. The watermelons are Moon and Stars, and if readers would like seeds just drop me a line and I will post you some.
This time I will talk about a breed of cattle that is rare in Australia but has many unique traits that definitely make it worth preserving. At present there are none in Queensland, Victoria being the only state with Shetland Cattle. Special thanks to Rare Breeds Volunteer Janet Lane for this information.
Shetland Cattle were brought to Australia in the 2010s. Sometimes called Shetland Kye (kye means cattle, plural. A single cow is a coo). Known on the Shetland isles for at least 5,000 years; descended from Aurochs like all cattle – archaeology proved Auroch were on the islands – harsh conditions made the cattle smaller and finer over a few thousand years. Then Vikings added a few Norse cattle to the mix but didn’t affect the genetics. As Shetland cattle were numerous imports were not needed. It’s now believed the Viking cattle influence was negligible despite urban myth.
“The Shetland cattle contrive to live on their native moors and wastes, and some of them fatten there; for a considerable and increasing quantity of beef is salted in Shetland, and sent to the mainland, the quality of which is exceedingly good. When, however, the Shetlanders are transported to the comparatively richer pastures of the north of Scotland, they thrive with almost incredible rapidity, and their flesh and fat, being so newly and quickly laid on, is said to be peculiarly delicious and tender.” – William Youatt, Cattle: Being a Treatise on Their Breeds, Management, and Diseases, 1852.
“The Shetland Islands. There are about 30 inhabited islands with a population of 31,270… The diet of the entire people consists chiefly of milk prepared in various ways peculiar to the country.” – The Mercury, Hobart, November 1872 (taken from Parliamentary Blue Book).
It was estimated in the early 19th century over 15,000 of these cattle were spread throughout the islands. By the 1980s however, they were threatened with extinction. This was largely due to a government ruling post World War II that those who crossed the cattle got a big government subsidy, those who did not cross got nothing. Somehow, a few breeders kept pure lines going. It was always said a Shetland cow, despite the colours of her coat – black and white, or red and white, or blue and white including sholmit, fleckit or mogiet – could always be told by her black nose – from the Chronicle,
Adelaide, August 1918 which reported the terms meant dun, mottled and brindled. According to The Northern Isles: Orkney and Shetland by Alexander Fenton, sholmit is white-faced, vandit is brindled,
and a rig has a stripe down the back from ears to tail-tip (some cows were named Rigga for this stripe); of interest there is a riggit colour in the Galloway breed.
Best known as a house cow for crofters (small holders) where milk was a staple. These cattle were intrinsic to life on Shetland; almost everyone kept a cow or two. The aged cows were slaughtered for
meat and some of the beef salted for keeping, by being soaked in strong brine then dried or smaller pieces left in salt to cure – called saat beef. Saat beef is sold by Shetland butchers to this day. Fresh
beef from an aged cow made a popular meal called sassermaet clatch – heavily spiced mince (sausage meat) cooked in a frypan with a chopped onion; a little liquid added, then put in a casserole
with mashed tatties (potato) on top, topped with cheese and baked. Reistit bufe was beef dried either in the sun/air or smoked in the chimney – to reist is to dry. Vivda was also a term, now obsolete, for beef dried without salt. Slink is a stew, cooked long and slow, of shin and joints; skink is a soup of the same (Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary); however, vivda is the name for meat hung in sea caves to keep fresh; perhaps this too dried out eventually, being air dried in salty air.
Calves were raised to be eaten or sold, some retained for working oxen. Milk and cream made many products from butter and various cheeses, to yoghurt, to a drink taken to sea by fishermen; possibly
a live culture buttermilk, also made on Shetland now, as in the past. When fatted calves were killed for food, it was noted the women knew a part of the intestines to be used with milk to make special
products, probably a type of rennet. Crofters on the Shetland isles made their own footwear, called rivlins, from the hide of their old cow.
Horns made drinking vessels, buttons, spoons, knife handles, funnels to drench cattle, a circle (when cut across like a banana) to tuck scarf ends into, and more. An important use for horn for centuries,
especially on the island, was foghorns. Used like a bugle, the sound carried exceptionally well. Blown at intervals from outposts on land they warned mariners there were land/rocks ahead; the same
function as a lighthouse in effect. Foghorns were also used on ships in heavy fog to advertise their whereabouts; big ships in particular could be a hazard in thick fog if a smaller ship collided with them. A foghorn was only called that when a horn was used in fog. Inventors later used the shape to make huge, mechanically powered megaphones for fog warning. Horns were used for all sorts of purposes such as calling children to dinner, cattle to feed, men to war and so on; and used as musical instruments on Shetland. Each horn can play two notes, an octave apart, thus four horns commonly made up part of a musical group.
Tough little cattle, their diet was also varied. Dried salted fish was a staple for cattle, sheep and ponies on Shetland and Iceland and an excellent source of iodine and other trace elements, used to
eke out other feed; and in whaling days whale meat was boiled then dried, and used as stockfeed for cattle. Like all cattle with access to it, they enjoyed seaweed too; nature's mineral block in times
past.
Salt beef was stored for use, and sent for sale to the mainland – a valuable commodity – its flavour always praised highly. Butchers on the Shetlands also hung fresh carcasses in caves by the sea,
where the tide came in and out, here the meat remained perfectly fresh for weeks – this beef was called vivda.
Bulls did the ploughing; oats for oatmeal and potatoes were major crops. Once ready, the sheaves or potatoes or turnips were loaded onto carts pulled by the bulls to be taken to storage. Cows not in
calf were at times used for draught too, this gave the cattle a strong, even frame and good muscle structure still seen today. Once crops were off, gates were taken off the hinges so free ranging cattle
could forage in the fields over winter. On the island of Papa Stour the cattle were said to be a distinctive type, slightly larger, with short horns. The cattle on other islands were kept smaller by
poor conditions, however animals were often taken to holms – small islands – where feed was very good. This way chosen calves for the table were grown out. Cows that had had a tough winter were
also put onto holms to recover condition. The cattle travelled calmly in little boats, being docile and sensible.
The Shetland Cattle Breed Society began in 1910, and published herdbooks 1912 – 1921; while herdboooks were not kept up after that due to disagreements about including crossbreds (upgrades
in today’s parlance) the society managed to keep going, and to hold meetings. From 1981 the herdbooks were resumed.
Breed Traits: Once triple purpose – draught, milk, meat. Now dual purpose, meat and milk. Once, the bulls were used for draught, primarily ploughing, on the Shetland isles. The cows were beloved
house cows, vital to existence. Both milk and meat have great health attributes. The milk is also high in butterfat.
Their skin is fine, thin like a dairy breed, the hair soft and short – despite being from a harsh environment, crofters always kept their precious cattle sheltered in the worst weather and at night in byres attached to the cottage – also helped warm the crofters cottage. They will weather out happily as in later times the care has been less intensive. One trait surviving from the thousands of
years living very close to humans, is their good nature and affection – the cattle will follow you about, and come to greet you.
Most are black and white (90 per cent), with some blue and white, red and white, dun and white coat colours seen, and occasionally, brindle. Bulls must be chiefly solid colour (less than 50-50 with
white). Short, incurving, slightly upward inclined horns; white with black tips. White tails witch.
Attractive head with wide forehead. Fine boned. Slim elegant neck, cleanly set on. Short legs of excellent conformation, set on four square, not crossing when walking – a leg on each corner as they
say on Shetland. A good legacy from working days.
A wide muzzle prevents them eating grass too close thus protects pastures from over-grazing and allows low growing native plants to survive. Ideal for conservation grazing, they thrive on rough fare.
Generous gut area to process roughage. Good doers.
Broader feet than most breeds so do not damage soft ground. Ease of calving due to the second widest pelvic structure of any other cattle breed. Good mothers. Calves grow very quickly due to
good milk and converting feed rapidly – an astonishing conversion rate.
Incredibly fertile breed, so heifers virtually from birth must be kept separate from bulls, and bull calves are fertile too from at least four months old and probably earlier. Heifers can calve very
young, but as a slow maturing, long lived breed wisdom is needed to think of her long life and giving her a good start. Live happily into their 20's, cows still calving in their late teens.
The beef has low levels of saturated fat, is high in omega-3's and has high doses of conjugated linoleic acid – which the milk also has. The beef is very well marbled and praised for tenderness and
flavour. Cows average 433kg, bulls 611kg.
Please be aware no upgrades of any percentage are allowed by this breed organisation.
Organisation: None in Australia. In the UK the Shetland Cattle Herdbook Society and the Shetland Cattle Breeder's Association. Some information herein from the breed websites and from the Slow
Food UK website and Trove (Australian Archives online).
