Beef on the hoof.

Well we have finally escaped from Braunston,new cratch cover fitted and hopefully no more work to be done for a while. We will miss Avril in the Old Plough but otherwise.....? We have got as far as Rugby, weather is absolutely foul but no trip is without its interest. On the way we passed a field with some Old English Longhorns, these are the original English cattle but are now an endangered species, they don't meet the demands of modern agriculture.

This is the old man, a ton or so of beef on the hoof, a real handsome fellow.

The two cows have really different styles of horn

and the young heifer is trying to catch up.

These are the cattle that were the mainstay of agriculture in the middle ages, the castrated males (oxen) even pulled the ploughs and wagons, horses were only for the upper classes, too costly for peasants. Let's hope the breed survives.