Milking Devon

The American Milking Devon is the reason The Livestock Conservancy exists. In the mid-1970s, Old Sturbridge Village and Plimoth Plantation went looking for the breed their archives said belonged on a colonial farm, could barely find one, and that search led to the founding of the first livestock conservation organization in North America.

Devons came from Devonshire in southwest England and reached New England with the Pilgrims in 1623. They were kept for three jobs at once: beef, rich milk for Devonshire cream, and ox work. They had a reputation as the fastest working oxen in Britain, said to trot at six miles an hour with an empty wagon, and Devon oxen pulled west on the Oregon Trail. Herd books have been published since 1855.

They are easy keepers that do well on rough forage, which is why they suit a small farm and get recommended as a family cow.

The trade is that a triple-purpose animal is not the best at any one job. If you want maximum milk or maximum growth, a specialized breed beats it.