Farmer Club aims to safeguard purebred Sussex lines

A group of Sussex cattle breeders have united to promote purebred animals to stop Sussex lines being lost to cross-breeding.  

It is believed there are only 160 traditional Sussex cattle left, which would put them into the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST ) “threatened” category.

This amounts to about 7% of the 2,500 cows registered by the trust.

The newly formed Sussex Cattle Club – founded by William Sackville, the 11th Earl De La Warr – will provide a network for trading breeding stock.

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The club’s aims are to:

• Share best practice and performance and benchmarking information
• Share details of semen straws of old or deceased bulls

“This is one of the oldest breeds of cattle in the country. When the Normans arrived in 1066, they encountered red cattle in the Weald of Sussex and Kent, which were the direct forebears of the pure line we see today,” said Earl De La Warr from the Buckhurst Estate, Sussex.

The club stressed its aims were to “complement the work of the Sussex Cattle Society”, which overs sees the 2,500 breeding cows.

Cross-breeding concerns

Club member Oliver Dean, an organic farmer from Udimore, East Sussex, said cross-breeding to increase size or performance can mean original traits are lost.

Mr Dean said: “The traditional Sussex is exactly what discerning consumers want. They produce great meat, famed for its flavour, tenderness and marbling. The animals are a dream to keep, too. They’ve got to be the calmest cattle on the planet.”

Mr Dean finishes purebreds at 28-30 months, weighing about 300kg deadweight, and makes £1,200-£1,500 apiece.

He added: “As someone who’s looking to rapidly expand this enterprise, I’m very excited by the potential of the club as a means of connecting with other breeders and cultivating relationships with the meat trade, retailers and consumers.”

Maintain attributes

The Sussex Cattle Society said it encouraged and supported all breeders trying to produce quality cattle in compliance with breed society regulations.

A society spokesperson added: “Today’s Sussex cattle continue to maintain their inherent attributes of excellent temperament and ability to thrive on poor-quality grazing.

“The Sussex cattle currently designated as traditional purebred, which are clearly identified in the herd book, have had their ancestry traced to 1953.

“They do not have bloodlines from the outcross to Red Angus, which was made at that time, when some forward-thinking breeders introduced the polled gene to the breed, or to Limousin in a development scheme introduced in 1980.”

“We maintain a register of cattle for sale and promote the breed on a worldwide basis.”