Robin Longbottom on how a breed of cattle once popular with farmers in this area achieved fame

UNTIL the 1960s, the breed of cattle favoured by farmers in the Keighley and Craven area was the Shorthorn.

It is first recorded in Yorkshire in the 17th century on the estates of the Duke of Northumberland, who introduced it from Teesside in the north-east of England. It was a dual-purpose animal, excellent for both milk and beef production.

Selective breeding began in the late 18th century, and it was the first breed in the world to have its pedigree recorded in a herd book. The book was known as the Coates Herd Book after George Coates, who compiled and published it in 1822; it listed 850 cows and 710 bulls.

The breed was known for having a good temperament and was red or roan and also white in colour. Today the average animal weighs about three-quarters of a ton but during the late 18th and early 19th centuries heifers (cows that hadn’t calved), oxen (castrated bull calves) and bulls achieved enormous weights. They were bred for beef and for fat, which was rendered down for tallow to make candles.

The breed is famous for having produced the world’s first bovine superstars. The earliest recorded was the Blackwell Ox, bred on a farm near Darlington and weighing just over 1.5 tons when it was slaughtered in 1779. The north-east produced several more famous Shorthorns including the Durham Ox, the White Heifer and a bull called Comet – the first in the country to be sold for 1,000 guineas. These cattle were exhibited throughout the country and gained nationwide fame. George III, often referred to as Farmer George, was so impressed with the Shorthorn that he kept a herd at Windsor.

Farmers in the Keighley and Craven area were also keen to improve their stock by selective breeding and they produced two Shorthorn superstars, the Craven Heifer and the Airedale Heifer.

The Craven Heifer was bred at Bolton Abbey in 1807 by the Rev William Carr. About four years later it was sold to John Watkinson, of Halifax, by which time it had already been painted. Its fame was such that during its lifetime, prints of the painting were hawked throughout the country.

The heifer was exhibited at Skipton in November, 1811, and the same month in Leeds from where it travelled down country to London, via Oxford. The method of transport has not been recorded but the Durham Ox had been conveyed to London in 1802 in a specially-constructed carriage pulled by six horses.

Within a few years inns and taverns in Yorkshire and Lancashire were being named the Craven Heifer and included ones at Skipton, Addingham and Manywells Heights, near Denholme. An engraving of the heifer also appeared in the centre of the £1 banknote issued by the Craven Bank.

The Airedale Heifer was bred by William Slingsby, a farmer and cattle dealer who lived at Carleton, near Skipton. She was born in 1824 and a year or two later Slingsby moved her to Riddlesden. Here the Keighley artist John Bradley painted her with East Riddlesden Hall in the background. Slingsby’s sister, Ann, and her husband Areton Grange were tenants at the hall.

The heifer weighed approximately 1.3 tons, and had to be slaughtered one Sunday morning in 1830 after an injury. William Slingsby was at church when he heard and was distraught at the news. In an effort to console him he was reminded that “Job, with all his troubles, never complained” (the Old Testament tells that he lost both his wealth and his children). Slingsby was said to have responded, “aye, but Job didn’t have a heifer like mine”.

Today the Shorthorn has largely fallen out of favour although a strain known as the Beef Shorthorn still retains some popularity.