Plus: response to the Rescue and Recovery Registry (RRR)
What is a Devon cow, heifer, bull, or even steer worth?
Who do you call to find out?
Well in modern times, we look to the internet for information, so if you were to, “Google” Devon cattle on the internet you would soon find that you can purchase Devon from various breeders around the country, nothing new there. Upon closer inspection you would soon realize that you can also buy them from New Zealand, or Australia, and then you would learn that there are two breed registries in the US.
Now you would be really confused, right?
Which should you buy? Which is best? Which is the one everybody is talking about?
The ADCA board of directors feels that buyers should be aware of the differences between a South Devon, a Red Devon, a Beef Devon, a Dairy Devon, a pure Devon, a percentage Devon, a recovery registry Devon, etc… etc…
And while the value of each grows by the day as this amazing breed (Devon) surpasses the expectations of cattle breeders, finishers, butchers and carnivores alike, they are different animals and have different values.
You, the readers, should be in charge of assigning the value to the cattle, this article is intended to inform you of what the cattle are on a genetic level. So, for a moment, let’s divert to a genetics lesson.
A Devon may be called just that, or a Red Devon, a Beef Devon, a Ruby Red, or a North Devon, they are all the same.
A Dairy Devon is just as pure as a beef Devon because they come from the same genetic pool. In 1952, the ADCA, then known as the American Devon Cattle Club, decided that the breed had to move into a specialist beef market in order to survive. At that time, a small group of breeders decided to form a separate association for dairy cattle and maintain triple-purpose stock.
The AMDA represents a gene pool of Devon Cattle selected for purity and milking ability. The Devon has always excelled in the areas of; quality beef from pasture, milking ability, and value as a draft animal, hence the term, triple purpose.
The 1868 American Devon Herd Book, Vol. 2, was published in Springfield, Massachusetts. This herd book contains a perfect description of Devon Cattle.
“The late experience of the breeders of Devons only confirms their former opinion of the excellent qualities of the breed, for the three grand objects for which neat stock are kept, namely, milk, work, or beef, and their adaptation to many sections of our country, in preference to any other breed; also that they will produce as much milk, work, or beef, from the food consumed, or on a given quantity of land, as any other breed…The only objection ever presented to the breed, is “they are small;” but we can keep more of them, and that on shorter pastures and coarser food.”
This description is accurate and shows why these cattle do so well in grass based environments as well as dairy operations.
The South Devon brought to this country in 1969 originated from the counties of Devon and Cornwall in Southwest England where they have been a distinct and separate breed since the 16th Century. They are the largest of the British breeds and are more brown than red. They have quite a different look and different attributes.
Now what is a Devon, and more importantly what is a pure Devon?
A pure Devon is simply one whose genes are pure to the species.
All cattle were originally identified by Carolus Linnaeus as three separate species. These were Bos taurus, the European cattle, including similar types from Africa and Asia; Bos indicus, the zebu; and the extinct Bos primigenius containing the axtant species including longifrons. The axtant species or aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and European cattle. More recently these three have increasingly been grouped as one species, with Bos primigenius taurus, Bos primigenius indicus and Bos primigenius primigenius as the subspecies. Bos is the genus of both wild and domestic cattle.
Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between European cattle and zebu but also with yaks, banteng, gaur, and bison, a cross-genera hybrid. Cattle cannot successfully be bred with water buffalo or African buffalo.
Devon cattle are one of the oldest beef breeds in existence today. In fact some authorities consider the Devon’s origin to be prehistoric, the assumption being that the breed descended directly from Bos lonqifrons, the smaller type of aboriginal cattle in Britain. In fact, according to reference material compiled by the Devon Cattle Breeders Society, Somerset, England; Devon Cattle— The Red Rubies, it appears that the Red Cattle of North Devon may have contributed to the Hereford and other British breeds.
The Devon was previously classified as a dual-purpose breed. Over the past half century, however, the breed has— through selection— evolved as a beef-type breed which is registered and promoted by the American Devon Cattle Association, Inc.
The native home of the Devon is in southwestern England, primarily in the counties of Devon, Somerset, Cornwall, and Dorset. For centuries, herds of red cattle grazed the grass covered hills of this cool, moist region. History records that the Romans took notice of the red cattle when they occupied this area in 55 B.C.
There is some evidence that the seagoing Phoenicians may have brought some ancestral red stock from northern Africa or the Middle East to Southwestern England during their visitations for tin. Some livestock breeders speculate that this might account for the Devon’s remarkable adaptation to hot climates in spite of its centuries of exposure to the damp, chilly hills of England’s Atlantic coast.
The early improvers of the Devon breed were Francis Quartly and his brothers William and Henry, and John Tanner Davy and his brother William. It is generally agreed that Francis Quartly accomplished for the Devon what the Collings did for the Shorthorn. Colonel John Tanner Davy founded the Devon herdbook in 1850. In 1884, the Devon Cattle Breeders’ Society was organized and took over the herdbook maintained today by the American Devon Cattle Association.
Only 131 years after Columbus discovered North America, the first Devon cattle reached what is now the United States. The year was 1623. The ship Charity brought a consignment of red cattle (one bull and three heifers) from Devonshire to Edward Winslow, the agent for Plymouth Colony. These red cattle of Devonshire, brought in by the Pilgrims, were probably the first purebred cattle to reach North America. These Devons are the ancestors of the modern Devon housed primarily in the U.S., Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and of course England. All of these countries maintain their own herd book but only true Devons can trace their lineage back to England and John Tanner Davy’s Devon Herd Book.
An American Devon Herd Book was begun in 1855 by Horance M. Sessions of Massachusetts. His first volume included a reprint of Volumes 1 and 2 of the English herd book. Sessions published five volumes with the last appearing in 1879.
James Buckingham, a Devon breeder from Zanesville, Ohio, began publication of the American Devon Record in 1881. The first four volumes were published under his direction, bringing Devon registry records up to May 1st, 1887.
Mr. Buckingham, with the aid of several other prominent Devon breeders, was instrumental in organizing the American Devon Cattle Club on March 26th, 1884, at a meeting in Pittsburgh’s East End Hotel.
The American Devon Record became the official herd book of the Club, which published six volumes under its watch. Like most other livestock registry associations in the United States, the American Devon Cattle Club found the cost prohibitive to produce a limited edition herd book. Volume 10, the final volume of the American Devon Record, was published in 1947. Duplicate registration certificates were maintained in the breed’s registry office for verifying the ancestry of registered animals and the protection of the genetic integrity of the Devon breed in the United States.
After the death of L.P. Sissons, Secretary of the American Devon Cattle Club, in 1916, the Club was reorganized and incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the American Devon Cattle Club, Inc. The corporation operated under that name for 53 years until it was changed to the Devon Cattle Association, Inc., at an annual meeting of the membership in Springfield, Massachusetts, on January 22nd, 1971.
On October 11th, 1978, a Devon Cattle Association, Inc. was formed as a Missouri nonprofit corporation. A merger of the old Massachusetts corporation into the new Missouri Corporation was approved by the respective members on November 19th, 1978. The merger became effective January, 1st The registration, promotion, and improvement of Devon cattle, 1979. On January 1st of 2006 the Devon Cattle Association became the American Devon Cattle Association.
A pure Devon is an animal with only other Devon cattle in its pedigree and beyond. The American Devon Cattle Association only maintains pure Devon Cattle in its herd book. In the 70’s the Devon Cattle Association began a breed up program called the F-1 registry wherein animals could be bred up to full blood status.
Other countries have had their own programs like this and several still do, the difference is that the Devon in America fell out of favor with the American Cattleman and the F- 1 registry fell to 0 animals in the year 1988 and stayed that way until it was abolished due to accusations by some marketers who accused ADCA members of having less pure animals than overseas Devon and statements that New Zealand Devon are more pure than American Blood Lines. This couldn’t be more untrue. Some herds have been line bred to concentrate genetics, this process has its own risks and rewards which will not be addressed here. The point is, a daughter bred to her father produces a calf which is no more pure than if the same female is bred to any pure bred bull of the same breed.
The Devons contained in the American Devon Cattle Associations herdbook are all 100% pure. The ADCA is not claiming to be more pure than anyone else; we are merely stating that our Devons are as pure as the Devons in New Zealand and Devonshire, England for that matter.
The ADCA endorses the Percentage Devon Registry where an animal with ½ Devon genetics or more may be registered. The difference in this registry and a breed up program is that animals in this registry will NEVER have progeny transferred into the ADCA herdbook. The books are and always will be separate.
The North American Devon Cattle Association (NADA) was founded as a separate Devon registry in Dallas, Texas in 2006. NADA has initiated as part of their registry a Rescue and Recovery Registry that allows animals that are considered to be phenotypically correct by visual inspection to be registered with NO pedigree information on file for their ancestors.
Taken from the NADA website is the following protocol for the Rescue and Recovery registry:
“The Breed Standard Committee has created the Rescue and Recovery Registry (RRR) and a protocol by which purebred Devon cows could become registered with NADA. The RRR’s purpose is to allow an application period in which Devon cows which are from known pure lines, but some reason no longer have registration papers, could apply to NADA for acceptance in the NADA Rescue and Recovery Registry. Photo would accompany the application. To describe the process: an RRR cow (Cow A in this example) would be issued a provisional registration certificate with a green border. Cow A could then be bred to a registered Devon bull and calve a heifer which would become Cow B. Cow B would be bred to a registered Devon bull and her calf (heifer or bull) would become the C generation. This process could take as long as 5 years of breeding. Cow “A” may have more calves born during this Rescue process and those heifer and bull calves would also be eligible for certification in the NADA Registry once a final determination is made.
Note that bulls would only be enrolled with generation “C” or later. DNA testing would be done on each generation, and a field inspection and approval would be required by a field inspector. Field inspectors would be appointed by the Board of the North American Devon Association. After final approval, Cow “A”, Cow “B”, and the “C” generation would then be “qualified” and will be issued a certificate of registration and all in that family would receive a red bordered certificate.
The breeder would pay all regular registration fees for each animal in the “A”, “B”, and “C” generation.”
The implementation of a rescue and recovery registry is not sanctioned by the ADCA or any international breed society. DNA testing can not verify lineage when the parents are not on file. Animals that are eligible for registration in NADA through visual inspection without registry documentation of purity do not qualify for the ADCA registry.
Geneticist and Theologians disagree on how many generations it takes to achieve genetic purity. Traces of Brahma can be seen is Bos Taurus crosses some 8 generations later, and half Devons can look as pure as 100% pure Devon.
Inspectors cannot verify purity by visual appraisal. In 10 – 20 years we will verify all breeding with DNA. By then all Devons will have some traceable lineage mapped with DNA and we may have even identified genes specific to the breed. In the meantime, we have to rely on the integrity of the individual breeder and the ongoing maintenance of accurate and timely animal registrations.
In summary, for an animal to be accepted into the ADCA herdbook and other overseas registries it has to have a “clean” registration. This means it has to have verified Devon genetics on every limb of the family tree going back a minimum of 5 generations. When lineages are untraceable the purity and therefore value of an animal is lessened. This is true from an economic and genetic point of view. Breeders like Jan Bonsma, Francis Quarterly, Stewart Fowler, and Robert Bakewell understood this, respected it, and acted accordingly. The ADCA hopes that you will as well. Lastly, the fact is that these animals may not be genetically pure and for this reason they are quite suspect. Will your money be refunded if cow C throws a calf with white on its head? Good Question…
The ADCA supports all breeders of Devon cattle globally including members of NADA. ADCA and the other major breed societies require a minimum 5 generation pedigree for importation of semen and embryos and registration of any and all progeny.
Respectfully presented by the ADCA to inform,
ADCA Board of Directors
If there is any question of an animal’s pedigree or purity, please contact the ADCA secretary for an official response.