'Very rare' cattle breed reintroduced to city

Cattle have returned to Hereford for the first time in eight years and their reintroduction has continued the city's historical link with livestock.

Bartonsham Meadows, lying within a meander of the River Wye, would have been grazed by livestock for centuries and were managed as pasture for a dairy herd from 1946 until 2018.

When the dairy farm was no longer viable it was leased out for crop growing before it was abandoned. That was until the Friends of Bartonsham lobbied the land's owners to manage the site as a nature reserve.

And now the land is home to an "ancient" cattle breed known as white parks, which is "fantastic", according to Herefordshire Wildlife Trust's David Hutton.

The Nature Reserves Project Manager said it was "fantastic" to see the five "beautiful animals" grazing the site.

"This echoes historical management practices and will contribute to creating wonderful wildlife habitat here, as well as producing food, right in the heart of the city."

The beef cattle have been kept in Britain for more than 2,000 years but are classed as a rare breed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, which moved white park cattle to its "priority" category in 2026 as numbers have fallen in recent years.

As well as being used as a food source, the animals will now selectively graze and trample the area, helping to create a diverse range of habitats.

Hutton said the plan was to add more cattle in the coming weeks but described the current herd as "very hardy beasts"

"They're quite an attractive breed, very ancient breed. They're all completely white with a black nose, and some quite sizable horns when they get bigger.

"So they're very hardy beasts. They don't need supplementary feeding. All they need is water and the vegetation."

He added: "They're a beef breed, so they will eventually go into the food chain.

"We're hoping for three more, what will be steers actually, so they'll be castrated bulls, and they're a bit bigger and even more impressive."

The remainder of the reserve is being restored as a traditional floodplain meadow and, as the restoration progresses, this will be managed by cutting it for hay in the summer and then grazed for a period afterwards.

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust took on the lease of Bartonsham Meadows in 2023, and Hutton emphasised the project would not have been possible without funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Hutton said the lottery and other partners, including Welsh Water, had contributed more than £385,000.

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