History
As with most true native breeds, the origins of the Welsh Black are somewhat clouded. There is evidence that the breed, or its forerunners, existed in Roman times and it has been suggested that the breed is based on cattle from the Iberian Peninsula.
Certainly black cattle have been bred in Wales for well over 1,000 years and, as in Scotland and many other parts of Britain, were often used as currency. This gave rise to the description of the Welsh Black as "the black gold from the Welsh hills".
It was these cattle and their drovers that played key roles in the development of the modern infrastructure of Wales including services such as roads and banking.
Up until the early 1970s the Welsh Black was regarded as a dual purpose breed for both dairy and beef production. There were two distinct strains of the breed; the stocky North Wales beef type and the more dairy like South Wales or Castlemartin animal. The Welsh Black breed of the 21st century combines the best of both combining beef ability with ease of calving and the milking ability to rear strong growing calves.
The publication of the first Welsh Black herd book in 1883 indicates that the first Welsh Black Cattle Society was formed a year earlier although there are no minutes until 1904.
The situation is further blurred in that there were separate Societies for North and South Wales until the modern Society was launched at a meeting in the Boars Head Hotel in Carmarthen in August 1904.
Until the early 1990s the Society was based at Caernarfon, later moving its main office to the Society’s building on the Royal Welsh Showground at Builth Wells while retaining Caernarfon as the centre for Society’s membership and registration work.
The net result is a modern Welsh Black breed offering cattle that meet the needs of modern farming with medium sized suckler dams that are easy to manage and capable of rearing strong pure or cross-bred calves that will suit both traditional and intensive beef finishing systems.