The Riverlands Longhorn herd began on a hot summers day in July 2007, when two girls (Breeze and Cleo) arrived on the farm following a police escort (it appears that Longhorn cattle like to show off as we have seen in the show ring since this day) The reason for the police escort was the fact the driver of the two girls had been caught up in a traffic jam, in the baking hot sun and one of the girls was heavily pregnant and not far off about to pop! The driver explained this to the police man, who very kindly took pitty on the two girls and led them out of the traffic!
The next day our first bull calf was born- Frodo Baggins, named after the main character in the Lord of The Rings films (not embarrasing at all!) We try to name all our calves after the Lord of the Rings Characters to keep the names as original as possible as you can perhaps tell!
How it all started...
Showing...
After building up our herd of fantastic longhorns we decided to embark on the show circuit. We rather enjoyed showing off our animals and meeting the many interesting people within the breed to compare notes with and have a good old natter! We have had our ups and downs, got very wet, got very sun burnt but still in 2014 we are preparing to round up the team and head out to the shows. Along the way we have tried to encourage the young ones we know to help out, in 2010 we managage to rope in a close friend of ours Will Brooks who took it on with great enthusiasum and is still showing with us today, along with his girlfriend Helena Rushby (when she first found out what it involved thought we were total idiots) but decided to give it a go in 2013, from which point she fell in love with the Riverlands Longhorns and has never looked back since. We leave a lot of the showing down to them now and we just help when they need us or when there is mucking out to be done!
What is it about Longhorns?
Longhorns (however intimidating they look) are the most gentle, caring and friendly animals I know, both with there offspring and to the people that feed them!
They also have cracking personailities which makes them so great to work with at home and at the shows, some are shy and quite, others are bossy, moody and full of themselves. But what ever it is they each have there own little thing that makes us love them.
They are really interesting animals to watch and cheer you up when your feeling down!
I hope we can carry on promoting the Longhorn breed and add to its ever increasing success both in the shed and in the show ring!