Blue Grey cattle

This article is about the cattle hybrid. For the colour, see Blue-gray. For other uses, see The Blue and the Gray.

Blue Grey

Head and neck of a cow, looking through a fence A cow
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Use	suckler cow
Traits
Coat	blue roan
Horn status	polled
Cattle Bos (primigenius) taurus

The Blue Grey is a cattle hybrid traditional in south-western Scotland and north-western England. It is blue roan in colour, and results from breeding a black Galloway cow to a white Shorthorn bull. It is reared principally as a suckler cow, and is particularly well suited to upland grazing.

History

In south-western Scotland and north-western England, Shorthorn bulls were used from the early nineteenth century on black Galloway cows to produce vigorous hybrid calves. If the bull was white, the calf was blue roan in colour; these were easily recognisable and were much in demand. In the later nineteenth century, selection of the Whitebred Shorthorn was begun specifically to supply white sires for production of these calves.

Characteristics

The Blue Grey is blue roan in colour, and is polled (without horns). Cows have high amounts of body fat compared to other hybrids in similar overall condition, and are able to produce adequate quantities of milk even on poor grazing.

Use

The Blue Grey is used principally as a suckler cow on uplands where grazing is sparse, where cows are nevertheless able to produce adequate quantities of milk for their calves. It has been used for conservation grazing in the Yorkshire Dales, where it grazes more lightly than sheep and is able to survive the winter on the coarse grasses of the limestone hills.