Features / A breed fae da past wi a plaess idda future
Dastreen de wir da Annual General Meeting o da Shetland Cattle Herd Book Society. Kent as da Herd Book da first meeting wis in 1910.
Danadays dey wir da kye at aaeen keepit. Da lairds, da fairmers an da crofters aa tøk pride atil dir animals. Dis didna laest da First War an da comin o UK Government incentives fir muckler baests gied da Shetland kye a dirty klaa an as numbers started tae faa awa da original Herd Book whet wi registrations.
Barred fae da Hill Cow Subsidy an gaffed at bi a marketplaess at cam tae be governed bi supermarket demands, mair an mair kye wir crossbred wi continental breeds til dey wirna dere.
Hit wis a start afore fokk cam tae see at dir kye wis on da very aidge o deein oot. Bit in 1981 da New Foundation Herd Book keekit aff wi da 27 coos at wir fit tae be taen fir Shetland kye. Fae dan til noo da numbers ir grown til a couple o hunder.
Dat haes taen a lokk o wark fae a handfoo o fokk, no aa ithin da isles. Fokk at wirna affpitten bi governments an da coonsel turnin dir baks til da owld breeds an dir genetic treasures. Fur Herd Book fokk ir traain fokk. Fairmin in Shetland sud be blyde o dir ain breeds fur nane o da importet kinds can kemp wi dem.
So dastreen da AGM electet twa young fokk (Jakob Eunson an Ashley Burgess) tae lead da Herd Book an as I lookit roon da room bye haaf o dem at wis dere wir under 40. A welcome sine I towt – traang eens at wir lukkin aheed.
A lokk is maed o Shetland’s heritage fir an bi da new industry o tourism. Bareli oni o da veesitors sal ivver see a Shetland coo nivver mind bein telt aboot her 5,000 year history. If da Herd Book fokk hae onithin tae dø wi hit, shø will live on as da perfect coo fir da isles.
Ee ting cam up late on in AOCB. Shetland kye ir finnin dir wye aesier in England whaar da UK Government’s DEFRA pays fairmers tae pit dem on coorse laand fir tae help ‘increase biodiversity and improve nature’.
Dis towt wis left hingin idda air as da members o Shetland’s maest eksclusiv coo club maed fir haem.
Ronnie Eunson
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