Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


The world's rarest animals not what you think

Sunday, March 3, 2013

The rarest animals in the world are neither Siberian tigers nor mountain gorillas. They are Chillingham cattle, a wild sub-species fenced into a 360-acre field in Northumberland County in northern England in 1240 and untouched by man since.

Game warden Richard Marsh talked about the care of the wild cattle in a recent BBC presentation: "No human hand touches them and they receive no veterinary care either . . . If humans were to handle them, they would change the way in which they smell. This would lead to any such beast being rejected by the herd and they'd kill them."

Some supplementary feed is necessary. "Surrounded with a fence means they cannot wander off and find food, so we have to keep them going, probably through to about March, with a couple of round bales of hay a day." Fully grown cattle average 650 pounds each.

According to other BBC reports, the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2001 came within a mile of the herd, but the cattle were spared. (Another 20 are kept at a location in Scotland as a genetic backup.) The animals are thoroughly inbred. The herd was reduced to eight cows and five bulls in 1947 after a bitter winter.

The park was created centuries ago, not to preserve the animals but to keep out marauding Scots. (There are tours of the park. Wandering unprotected in the fields is ill-advised.) BF

Current Issue

June/July 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Calf Auction Raises Funds for Youth

Monday, June 30, 2025

Wyatt Westman-Frijters from Milverton won a heifer calf named Ingrid through a World Milk Day promotion by Maplevue Farms and a local Perth, Ontario radio station. Instead of keeping the calf, 22-year-old Westman-Frijters chose to give back to the community. The calf was sent to the... Read this article online

Cattle Stress Tool May Boost Fertility

Friday, June 27, 2025

Kansas State University researchers have developed a cool tool that may help reduce cattle stress and improve artificial insemination (AI) results. The idea came from animal science experts Nicholas Wege Dias and Sandy Johnson, who observed that cattle accustomed to their environment... Read this article online

Ontario pasture lands get $5M boost

Friday, June 27, 2025

The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $5 million to strengthen shared community grazing pastures. This funding supports the province’s plan to protect Ontario’s agriculture sector and help cattle farmers improve pasture quality, ensuring long-term sustainability and... Read this article online

Health Canada sets rules for drone spraying

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Health Canada has approved the use of drones, also called Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), for pesticide application under the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA). Drones are considered aircraft by Transport Canada, but Health Canada treats them differently due to their unique... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top