The Wild Cattle of Chillingham 

There are beef producers here in America (where the winters are harsher except in Florida) who have the Mama's wean their calves. Not as uncommon as this guy let on

@@willieclark2256 it has been done here also , but generally speaking the instinct to self wean has been bred out , and if the calves stay on to long then the cow has trouble building their body condition enough for the winter. The old time cows would cut milk production till the calf quit sucking , but now they keep producing till forced to stop

@@lesgallivan4159 and good producers cull those animals.

@@willieclark2256 it depends on the operation, here a lot of people aim for a 8-9 hundred pound weaning weight , and sell to a feedlot that will have them finished by 13 months age For that you need a cow that produces high right to the end of grazing . And with our grass only lasting from June to end of August you need a cow that really pumps

Where is your "here",sir?

from what I hear, ding dong battles are pretty big in England.

JustaDumbFarmer, jose portillo yes, I’m English and I can tell you I wouldn’t mind going head to head with one of these bulls. Just not ding to dong. We’re tough but not that tough. Seriously though, super film, I had no idea these fellows existed.

Bwahaha! LOL doesn't even come close to laughter I just let out. My thoughts exactly.

Even a factory farm - apparently :\

Matt Wassam we haven’t been babying them for that long. We graded them with no fence for thousands of me.

Matt Wassam Try the high desert of Nevada, USA.

I would like to start the first Chillingham Wild White Cattle herd to repopulate Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Super Dave try the high plains of Montana.

You might want to ask the people in Hawaii and the American south how they like the "wild and free" pigs.

Do you want cattle to go extinct?

That would be awesome

Their already 800 years old lol. Do animals even devolve? 😂

@@lordsofafan372 400 years so not to long

@@lordsofafan372 Maybe they can revolve

That's not how evolution works. They may be descendants of the auroch, but they have many differences. They're smaller, have less muscle mass, their horns aren't large enough or the right shape, and their sexual dimorphic coloration is gone. They won't revert back to the auroch, as they're technically a different subspecies, with some preserved wild instincts, like that of feral animals, like chickens, for example. Feral chickens look similar to their wild ancestors, yet they're still visually distinct, having different plumage. If these cattle are going to return to an appearance similar to the auroch, they're going to need to continue breeding, and passing on the necessary traits for many hundreds to thousands of successive generations, if natural selection is acted on. They're also going to need an increased gene pool to better sustain them into the future, and grant a higher chance that beneficial mutations are passed accordingly.

Although I agree in principle, most would not survive "the wild" in the broader sense owing to their (un)natural predator, man, having developed the firearm. This herd is not just a tourist attraction, but a very good research model with respect to "closed" breeding, so a credit to all involved in its preservation over the centuries. Let us all hope that they will still be there for years to come.

Aurochs went extinct in England before that but they belong to the cattle breeds most similar to the aurochs but they are not the top 40. But they share a lot of aurochs traits

Looks identical except the color.

I think the aurochs were a lot bigger.

@@karenbartlett1307 yes but that's due to diet and environmental factors.

@@gentilewarrior Oh. Ok.

I would like to see the first established Chillingham Wild White Cattle herd in Derbyshire.

I would agree with you . I bet they were awesome .

They are protected.

Intriguing why they suffer from so much diarrhea if they’re just eating grass with no strange additives.

@@Rwizaify not at all, young grass will go straight through them.

@@alistairclement4239 I wasn’t aware of that. Then they should develop the instinct of adding some mature grass and leaves in their diet.

​@@Rwizaifytheir full of worms and if they weren't wild they'd need a dose/injection

Look at the Longhorn history. They were wild for hundreds of years in very desolate places.

Apparently, in-breeding over 800+ years has made them a species, rather than "cattle" They are incredibly tough and the bulls will actually fight to the death, unlike most domestic cattle. Unlike some herds of American Bison, self-entitled idiots with guns are not trying to kill them for entertainment.

There has been a domestic herd left to go wild on a Scottish island that has been left for over 50 years and there instinctive wildness has naturally developed. If humans visit for research the cattle form a ring with the young in the middle for protection. I would like to say life on earth has been around for about 800 million years without influence from man so I dont get why we think we know best in how animals produce . Maybe that little bit of inbreeding is the tusk that grows to 16 ft on an african elephant or the bull sharks capabilities to swim in fresh water. There are so many factors.

Purity reach after 14 generations for the desired traits is normal on nature. Look at how deer or rabbits are marked exactly the same. Those that vary from the exact type that fits an environment die. Very close breeding insure survival and is never a problem as purity removes or purified the undesirable traits out of the gene pool.

@@andylyon3867 You have a good point, through natural selection, weakness in a gene pool is eliminated, but there are thresholds, and research shows that if there are insufficient numbers, characteristics such as fertility and immunity can become problems. Also, with a limited gene pool adaptability suffers if the environment changes.

@@andylyon3867 They are actually classed as a species now!

Same. Was disappointed they didn't show any of these hard, ding-dong battles. Off to Pornhub.

@@SluttChops or in the case of bulls, Hornpub.

Sgtgewart smith there feral

yes but by the sound of it they were originally domesticated cattle gone feral. And what time mspan covers feral to wild

And Hawaii and the American southwest and the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and dozens of other places.

well done they were sent with criminals and children because Britain couldnt be are arsed

But they haven't been feral for 800 years

These may indeed be the white bulls. So lauded by the Druids.

These cattle are not inbred.There is another herd in Scotland.In the event new bloodlines are required.However the Chillingham herd is in full vigor.

@@doniellestenson3502 Scottish herd has the same genetics, it was created by moving some of the Chillinham cows there, when the foot and mouth disease threatened the park.

In breeding is not a problem as long as the population is without any serious genetical defects or illnesses. Cheetahs are extremely in bred as a species, yet they are doing fine

Nah man they are already a back bre sour oh at least in a new way, they are already a wild animal, why change them

No space for it with the exception of some areas of Scotland

I’m sure they could

Followed by " they found another farm for him......" Yeah .. right ...

You two need to learn history, not skim over it and call yourself cynical. Just a thought.

Thought the same, except for the horns, charolais are naturally poled.

@@ferengiprofiteer9145 Pardon ?? Have you ever seen a purebred Charolais one day ? They are HORNED, big horns and let me tell you that the bull's horns are terrible and they go strait apart each side of the head (those of cows are more like the auroch ones) and can skewer you just like a lump of butter !! Greetings from France :-)

@@Effemo58 I'm chagrined ☺, was a Hereford man 50 years ago. All the Charolais around were polled same as angus. (Hmm, Angus may not be naturally polled either) I guess never helping my neighbors with them dehorn them jumped me to that conclusion.

@@ferengiprofiteer9145 Sorry, I didn't want to offend you. I don't really know about "foreign" breed of cows but it seems that there are few breeds in which there are two lines : one line with horns and one line without naturally and maybe the Angus is part of these. Well, the physical difference is easy to make : the naturally poled have a round and smooth top skull then the artificially poled have the "horn socle" (sorry I don't know the right word in English) is still developping and the shape of the sull looks like a non-polled head. My english is not super, I hope you understand what I mean. Greetings :-)

@@Effemo58 We're good my friend. 50 years ago, when I was involved with cattle, charolais were new to my area and it was a polled variety. Not the first time something I knew for a fact turned out not to be true.😉👍

satisfying lol

Thing is, they're white too, and the auroch went extinct earlier in GB than in the continent.

OK, you go chase one down, kill it and chop it up ;) (I know you're just saying that in fun)

totaltwit Just yanking chains. Thanks brother.

Genes lost in domestication are lost for ever. But I estimate they would manage in nature as they are now, so they do not need to change. Perhaps a distinct breeding season might be an helpfull addition.

Well rewinding Europe is doing that, but in reality these are pretty much uk auroch, and in my opinion should be rewilded into that animal

i would be inclined to agree but they've been there 800 years. also if there is anything wrong with any one of the calves, the cows will kill it.

@@alistairclement4239 When I start T Birds Falconry it would be the first Falconry Centre to bring the First Chillingham White Cattle herd in Derbyshire.

I don’t think they actually eat them, they either bury them or take them further away from the herd to let Badgers and Foxes eat.

Nope

you are talking about mongrel beef and dairy cattle that have gone feral...these are unique.

@@TonyL2567 When I turn T-Birds Falconry into a reality, it will be the first Falconry Centre to have Chillingham Wild White Cattle as a herd in Derbyshire.

daniel taylor good luck

@@TonyL2567 many thanks. T Birds will be the first Falconry Centre to be a branch of the British Falconry Club for young people and also the first Falconry centre to show and preserve Medieval life. Chillingham White Cattle, Herdwick Sheep, Shire Horses and Suffolk Punch Horses as well as Aylesbury Ducks and Derbyshire Red Cap Chickens and Birds of Prey.

Bulls from Spain should be introduced in the pool gene ..... the probably are of the same breed .... so this breeding should be line breeding and will strengthen the breed

No

@Horse Malone When I establish the T-Birds Falconry Centre, I would to also establish the first Chillingham Wild White Cattle herd in Derbyshire.

RO: That is irrelevent, since they have never had an role in agriculture on this estate.

This herd was exclusively for hunting

I don’t think u can also it’s pretty much a wild animal, it’s not bred for meat or milk so it’s kinda sucky, it’s also very aggressive