Milking Shorthorn

The Milking Shorthorn is the dairy side of the Shorthorn breed, kept separate as English breeders divided the population between milk and beef in the nineteenth century.

They are a moderate dairy cow rather than a specialist one, and their case rests on that. They give useful volume with good components, but they also carry meat on them, so a cull cow and a bull calf are worth something instead of being a disposal problem.

They graze well, calve easily, and last, which is why they hold their place on pasture-based dairies and on farms selling into a smaller local market.

The trade is volume. Against a Holstein in a confinement system they do not compete on litres, and any farm paid purely on volume will feel that difference every month.