THE Gloucester cow owes its existence to a small group of far-sighted farmers, founder members of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST), 50 years ago in 1973, who were prepared to swim against the tide of the more commercial, faster-moving breeds then prevalent in farming. One of them, Eric Freeman—his son, Clifford, owns the country’s biggest herd, farmed for beef—remembers seeing these striking cattle, with their mahogany coats, upswept crescent horns and tapering, creamy dorsal stripes, ambling up a country lane. ‘It was one of those special sights,’ he recalls. Mr Freeman and his fellow pioneers, including Adam Henson’s father, Joe, and the famed cheesemaker Charles Martell, who makes Stinking Bishop from Gloucester milk, bought up as many of the diminishing breed as they could.
The magnificent dual-purpose Gloucester, which…