Red Devon

The Red Devon and the American Milking Devon come from the same English stock and went in opposite directions. This is the beef side.

Devon cattle were developed over centuries on the southwestern peninsula of England. A red bull of the Devon type was given to Tavistock Abbey in 1366, then the record goes quiet until the 1700s. North Devon cattle were prized for finishing on forage alone and for the quality of the beef, and their breeders had a reputation for being unusually devoted to them.

Two names cause confusion. The Devon is sometimes called the North Devon to separate it from the South Devon, a large dun beef breed it is not closely related to, though the two were crossed until the mid-1800s.

The Pilgrims brought the first Devons to New England in 1623. In Britain the breed was subsequently selected hard toward beef. In America a triple-purpose population survived, and that is the Milking Devon, listed separately in this catalogue and ranked Critical.

Expect an easy keeper that finishes on grass.