Cattle - The Lincolnshire Red
- farmersfriendlincs
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Lincoln Red is not a breed of cattle that was seen in the Fens of Lincolnshire, but rather a breed of the Lincolnshire Wolds. However, it tended to be over-wintered on the flat lands south of Horncastle. The first full herd of pedigree Lincoln Red cattle that I had the privilege to see in 2008 was at Donington-on-Bain, between Horncastle and Lincoln, and these belonged to the Parkinson brothers of R.G. Parkinson and Son. Sadly this herd was sold off at Louth Livestock Market in October 2025 marking the end of a 62 year period of rearing for that herd.
Although the breed was recognised locally throughout most of the 19th century it gained full recognition as a separate breed in 1890 with the first herd book was published in 1895. This was driven largely by those exporting the breed requiring breeding provenance with exports to Argentina and Australia. One of the earliest references to what was to become the Lincoln Red is in Arthur Young’s farm tours of Britain in the 1770’s where Mr. Turnell of Reasby near Wragby, Lincolnshire is referred to. This herd became known as “Turnell’s Reds”. It is telling that when you look at short-horn breeding you see a steady flow of beast over time migrating down the Great North Road. Turnell’s Reds were deemed to have been bred from cows sent down from Darlington.
On September 11th 1810 a group of farmers from the Lincolnshire Wolds attended a sale at Ketton, near Darlington where Mr Charles Colling was disposing of his quality short-horn herd along with his sheep: “The stock of Mr. Charles Colling; consisting of about 20 cows, calved with calf, 16 three, two and one-year heifers, and 5 heifer calves: the calves and heifers are most of them in calf to his bull Comet, which will be sold with about 20 more bulls and bull calves of different ages, all well bred. Comet was got by Favourite, his dam Phoenix, by Favourite also, which was sire of the well-known Durham ox.” It is a measure of the quality of these animals that the six year old Comet sold for 1000 guineas and two cows in calf sold for 410 guineas. The Lincolnshire farmers returned with three bulls that were driven back to Lincolnshire and are considered a breeding root of the Lincoln Red.
The Lincoln Red was popular because of its robustness and ability to leave it out on fields when other short-horn cattle needed to be housed. They could also cope with drought better than some cattle, especially larger breeds, and survive and recover. This was important in the Eastern counties like Lincolnshire with periods of low rainfall and made them attractive for export, especially to Australia. Red short-horns were favoured over other colours, but in the Lincoln Red a particular “cherry-red” was favoured as this was deemed a mark of quality. Bulls of incorrect shade fetched lower prices and a few white marks were tolerated provided they did not occur above the dewlap (the fleshy bit below the jaw). Within Lincolnshire the breeders preferred to let the calves suckle the cows, reducing milk yield, but outside of Lincolnshire they were considered superior to other short-horn dairy cattle achieving annual yields of 1000 gallons. In Lincolnshire they were largely considered a beef animal and this purpose dominated the breed.
Perhaps one of the most distinctive features of the breed is the flat back, more usually found in dairy breeds. Breeding, especially regional breeds, is prone to fashion and interpretation. It is telling that when Messrs Parkinson showed me their herd they asked me to comment on one of the bulls. I noted that it had a more rounded rear than I would expect from a Lincoln Red. They explained that this was a matter of argument by breeders and judges, but to maintain viable genetics some cross-breeding was permitted, which was then bred out over time. It is somewhat remarkable that this breed, developed over 250 years or so has made a significant contribution to viable blood lines in challenging farming conditions across the globe. It is perhaps a forgotten aspect of global food security that blood lines need protection to ensure sustained future viability of beef production. Lincolnshire has certainly played its part with the Lincoln Red.