Hereford Cattle

A British breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands of England, developed through selective breeding programs beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, work that predates the famous breeding methods of Robert Bakewell. Herefords are marked by a red body with a white face, males weighing about 1,075 kilograms and standing 152 centimeters tall and females averaging 675 kilograms and 140 centimeters, and they exist in both horned and naturally polled forms, the polled type becoming a separate American breed category in the early twentieth century. The breed spread internationally early, reaching Ireland by 1775, Kentucky by 1817, Australia before 1850 and Argentina from 1858, and the modern American Hereford descends from a herd established in 1840 at Albany, New York. Herefords are now kept in 62 countries with a worldwide population above seven million as of 2023, with major populations in Uruguay, Brazil and Chile.