Britains cow-watchers lead the world

26 May 1998

Britains cow-watchers lead the world

BRITAIN is leading the world with a new breed of professional cow-watchers who tour the countryside to find the perfect cow, reports The Daily Telegraph.

One of these is Jim Westaway, who monitors about 10,000 a year in his job as field services manager for the Holstein-Friesian Cattle Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

The information he and his team gather is used to help breeders weed out cows with weak legs and to breed replacement animals from those with strong ones.

Edinburgh University has devised a computerised “cattle locomotion” scoring system to help watchers assess each animal.

• The Daily Telegraph 26/05/98 page 8