White Park Cattle are a very old breed of beef cattle, kept in Britain for more than 2000 years but which are now rare. They are closely descended from Britain’s original wild white cattle that were enclosed in parks by the nobility during the middle ages. By the end of the 19th century, such parks had largely gone out of fashion and the breed struggled to survive till 1973 when the Rare Breeds Survival Trust was formed and chose the White Park as its logo. From around 60 animals left in the breed at that time, the numbers have grown so that there are now more than 450 adult breeding cows.

The breed is distinguished in looks – large white animals with black points – that is muzzle, ears, eye-rims and feet. The elegant wide-spreading horns are usually black-tipped. The cows are noted for ease of calving, milkiness and high fertility, while bulls used as crossing sires confer ease of calving and exceptional hybrid vigour. Excellent foraging ability and longevity are also notable. The cows breed until they are typically 12 to 16 years old, though some breed up to more than 20 years of age.


White Park beef is lean, tasty and well marbled and it cooks beautifully. When properly hung for 3 weeks or so, joints will shrink very little on cooking and the natural juices produced will be full of flavour White Park is best cooked at a slightly lower temperature, over a longer period of time than modern beef breeds. The meat is much sought after and sold by name in top restaurants and butchers. AA Gill said in the Sunday Times:

“The white park, a breed I've never eaten before and had always assumed was purely ornamental, was really excellent: softly chewy, with that strong, distinctive, almost corrupt flavour of proper beef ... it was the best steak I've had this year”


* ‘White Park Beef’ is a mark of the White Park Cattle Society Ltd
White Park cattle reach full size at about five years of age, bulls averaging about 955kg in weight and cows 635kg. Heifers are typically put to the bull at 27 months to calve at 3 years old, but this depends on the system of management and climatic conditions. The cattle are very hardy and successfully outwinter in low temperatures and wet weather. They are capable of converting coarse herbage into high quality meat, while also capable of gaining weight at over 1 kg per day in good conditions.


The breed is ideally suited to both organic farming and conservation grazing. White Park Cattle have been successfully used to protect and enhance SSSI environments as diverse as chalk downland, coastal marshes and ancient forest.

The White Park Cattle Society is responsible for maintaining the herd book and protecting and overseeing the development of the breed. Pedigree White Park Cattle must be registered in the herd book, and meat sold as ‘White Park Beef’ must be from the offspring of pedigree parents.