Breeds

Aberdeen Angus

The Aberdeen Angus is a naturally polled beef breed from north-eastern Scotland, known for its solid black (or red) coat, carcass quality, and widespread use as a maternal and terminal breed in crossbreeding.

American Quarter Horse

Equus caballus

The American Quarter Horse is a compact, powerfully muscled light horse breed from the United States, named for its speed over a quarter-mile and celebrated as a versatile stock horse with a calm, willing temperament.

Andalusian

Equus caballus

The Andalusian, known in Spain as the Pura Raza Española (PRE), is a Spanish baroque light horse breed of Iberian origin, elegant and strongly built, historically influential and prized today for classical dressage and haute école work.

Anglo-Nubian

Capra hircus

The Anglo-Nubian is a large, lop-eared dual-purpose goat developed in England from British and lop-eared Asian and African goats. It is valued for rich, high-butterfat milk and tolerance of warm climates.

Angora

Capra hircus

The Angora is a fibre goat of Anatolian origin bred for mohair, the long, lustrous fleece it produces. It is small-framed and is shorn for fibre rather than kept primarily for milk or meat.

Arabian

Equus caballus

The Arabian is an ancient light horse breed from the Arabian Peninsula, prized for its refined head, endurance, and stamina, and enormously influential as a foundation breed on many other horse breeds worldwide.

Australorp

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Australorp is an Australian dual-purpose chicken breed developed from Orpington stock and selected strongly for laying ability, becoming famous for its brown-egg productivity while retaining a docile, hardy character.

Ayrshire

The Ayrshire is a hardy red-and-white dairy breed from south-western Scotland, valued for efficient grazing, good udders, and reliable production under a range of conditions.

Belgian Blue

The Belgian Blue is a heavily muscled beef breed from Belgium characterised by double muscling, producing very lean, high-yielding carcasses; its extreme muscularity has important calving-management implications.

Berkshire

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Berkshire is one of the oldest recorded English pig breeds, black with six white points, valued for high-quality, well-marbled pork. It is marketed as Kurobuta pork in Japan and is of ongoing conservation interest.

Boer

Capra hircus

The Boer is a South African meat goat known for rapid growth, heavy muscling, and a distinctive white body with a red-brown head. It is one of the most widely used specialised meat-goat breeds internationally.

Border Leicester

The Border Leicester is an English longwool breed with distinctive upright ears and a Roman nose, used widely as a crossing sire to produce prolific crossbred (mule) ewes in stratified sheep systems.

Brahma

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Brahma is a very large, feather-legged chicken breed developed in the United States from imported Asian stock, historically important as a meat fowl and now valued as an imposing, cold-hardy dual-purpose and exhibition breed.

Brahman

The Brahman is a humped zebu beef breed developed in the United States from Indian cattle, valued for heat tolerance, insect and parasite resistance, and hardiness in tropical and subtropical conditions.

Brown Swiss

The Brown Swiss is a large grey-brown dairy breed originating in the Alps of Switzerland, one of the oldest dairy breeds, valued for milk suited to cheese-making and for a docile temperament.

Charolais

The Charolais is a large, white-to-cream French beef breed known for heavy muscling and growth, used worldwide as a terminal sire and for lean beef production.

Clydesdale

Equus caballus

The Clydesdale is a Scottish draught horse breed from the valley of the River Clyde, known for its size, feathered legs, high-stepping action, and bay coats with bold white markings.

Cornish

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Cornish, known in Britain as the Indian Game, is a heavily muscled English meat breed prized for its broad breast and compact build, and it is a principal ancestor of modern commercial broiler chickens.

Corriedale

The Corriedale is a dual-purpose sheep breed developed in New Zealand and Australia by crossing longwool rams with Merino ewes, producing both medium wool and meat; it is very numerous in South America.

Dairy Shorthorn

The Dairy Shorthorn is the dairy line of the English Shorthorn, a red, white, or roan breed valued for dual-purpose heritage, hardiness, and functional milk production from forage.

Dorper

The Dorper is a South African meat sheep breed developed for arid conditions, carrying a short coat of mixed hair and wool that sheds, so shearing is generally not required.

Duroc

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Duroc is a red American pig breed widely used as a terminal sire. It is valued for growth rate, hardiness, and meat with notable intramuscular fat (marbling).

French Alpine

Capra hircus

The French Alpine is a hardy, medium-to-large dairy goat of Alpine origin, valued for good milk yield, adaptability, and a wide range of coat-colour patterns described by traditional French terms.

Friesian

Equus caballus

The Friesian is a Dutch horse breed from the province of Friesland, an elegant black "baroque"-type horse with a long, flowing mane and tail and lower-leg feathering, used chiefly for driving and dressage.

Gir

The Gir is an Indian zebu dairy breed from Gujarat, distinguished by its domed forehead and long pendulous ears, valued for milk in hot climates and important in tropical dairy crossbreeding.

Gloucestershire Old Spots

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Gloucestershire Old Spots is a white, black-spotted English pig with large lop ears, traditionally a hardy pasture and orchard pig. It is a dual-purpose heritage breed of ongoing conservation interest.

Guernsey

The Guernsey is a fawn-and-white dairy breed from the Channel Island of Guernsey, known for rich, golden-tinged milk and a docile temperament.

Haflinger

Equus caballus

The Haflinger is a small, hardy mountain horse breed from the Tyrol region of Austria and northern Italy, recognisable by its chestnut coat with flaxen mane and tail, and valued as a versatile, good-natured working and riding horse.

Hampshire

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Hampshire is a black pig with a distinctive white belt over the shoulders and forelegs, developed in the United States from English belted stock. It is a lean, muscular breed used mainly as a terminal sire.

Hampshire Down

The Hampshire Down is an English Down meat breed with a dark face and legs, used chiefly as a terminal sire to produce fast-growing, well-conformed market lambs.

Hereford

The Hereford is a hardy English beef breed distinguished by its red body and white face, kept worldwide for efficient forage-based beef production and widely used in crossbreeding.

Highland

The Highland is a hardy Scottish beef breed with a long double coat and long horns, renowned for thriving in cold, wet, and harsh conditions and for use in conservation grazing.

Holstein Friesian

The Holstein Friesian is a large black-and-white (or red-and-white) dairy breed of Dutch and northern German origin, recognised internationally for high milk volume and now the most widely distributed dairy breed in the world.

Jamnapari

Capra hircus

The Jamnapari is a large, distinctively long-eared dual-purpose goat from northern India, kept for milk and meat. It is one of the ancestral breeds behind the Anglo-Nubian and is characterised nationally by Indian research bodies.

Jersey

The Jersey is a small fawn-coloured dairy breed from the Channel Island of Jersey, valued for feed-efficient production of milk that is high in butterfat and protein.

Karakul

The Karakul is an ancient fat-tailed sheep breed of Central Asia, historically prized for the tightly curled coats of newborn lambs and also kept for coarse wool, milk, meat, and fat, and noted for hardiness in harsh, arid environments.

Katahdin

The Katahdin is a North American hair sheep breed developed in Maine for low-maintenance meat production, carrying a hair coat that sheds so that shearing is not required.

Kiko

Capra hircus

The Kiko is a meat goat developed in New Zealand from feral goats selected for hardiness, growth, and survivability under low-input hill-country conditions. It is widely used in extensive and pasture-based meat systems.

LaMancha

Capra hircus

The LaMancha is an American dairy goat instantly recognised by its very short external ears. Developed in the United States from Spanish-descended goats, it is valued for a calm temperament and steady milk production.

Landrace

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Landrace is a white, lop-eared pig breed developed originally in Denmark for bacon and now maintained as national strains worldwide. It is a leading maternal line valued for length, prolificacy, and mothering ability.

Large White

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Large White, known as the Yorkshire in North America, is a white, erect-eared English pig breed and one of the most important maternal lines in commercial pig production worldwide.

Leghorn

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Leghorn is a light, active Mediterranean-class chicken breed originating in central Italy, renowned as a prolific layer of white-shelled eggs and as the foundation of most modern commercial white-egg laying strains.

Limousin

The Limousin is a golden-red French beef breed from the Limousin region, known for heavy muscling, high dressing percentage, and lean meat, and widely used as a terminal sire.

Lincoln Longwool

The Lincoln Longwool is a large English longwool sheep breed from Lincolnshire, producing a very long, heavy, lustrous fleece; historically influential in developing other breeds and now regarded as a rare breed in several national registries.

Mangalica

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Mangalica is a Hungarian lard-type pig with a distinctive thick, curly, woolly coat. Once near extinction, it has recovered through conservation and demand for its high-fat, richly flavoured meat and cured products.

Marans

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Marans is a French dual-purpose chicken breed from the Atlantic port town of Marans, celebrated above all for laying eggs with an exceptionally dark, chocolate-brown shell.

Merino

The Merino is a fine-wool sheep breed of Spanish origin, renowned for producing some of the finest and highest-value apparel wool among sheep. It exists as many strains developed across the world, especially in Australia.

Nellore

The Nellore is a white zebu beef breed derived from the Indian Ongole and developed extensively in Brazil, valued for heat and parasite tolerance and now a dominant beef breed in tropical South America.

New Hampshire

Gallus gallus domesticus

The New Hampshire is an American dual-purpose chicken breed selectively developed from the Rhode Island Red for faster growth and earlier maturity, valued as a productive meat-and-egg bird with a rich chestnut-red plumage.

Nigerian Dwarf

Capra hircus

The Nigerian Dwarf is a miniature dairy goat developed in the United States from West African Dwarf stock. It is prized for high-butterfat milk relative to its small size and is popular on smallholdings and homesteads.

Orpington

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Orpington is a large, soft-feathered English dual-purpose chicken breed developed in Kent in the late 19th century, popular for its docile temperament, cold-hardiness, and, in its Buff variety, striking golden plumage.

Percheron

Equus caballus

The Percheron is a French heavy draught horse breed from the Perche region of Normandy, typically grey or black, known for combining great strength with relative elegance and clean, largely unfeathered legs.

Pietrain

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Pietrain is a Belgian pig breed, white with black spots, exceptionally heavily muscled and used as a terminal sire to add leanness and muscling. It is historically associated with the halothane stress-susceptibility gene.

Plymouth Rock

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Plymouth Rock is an American dual-purpose chicken breed, most familiar in its Barred variety, valued for docility, cold-hardiness, and steady production of brown eggs on farms and in backyard flocks.

Poll Dorset

The Poll Dorset is a polled (hornless) meat sheep breed developed in Australia from the Dorset Horn, valued for prime-lamb production and an extended breeding season.

Rambouillet

The Rambouillet is a large fine-wool sheep breed developed in France from Spanish Merinos, sometimes called the French Merino; it became a foundation of range sheep production in the western United States.

Rhode Island Red

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Rhode Island Red is an American dual-purpose chicken breed developed in the late 19th century, valued for hardiness and a reliable output of brown eggs, and widely used as a farm fowl and in producing modern brown-egg laying stock.

Romney

The Romney is a dual-purpose longwool sheep breed from the Romney Marsh of Kent, England, valued for long-stapled wool and meat and noted for hardiness on wet, low-lying pasture.

Saanen

Capra hircus

The Saanen is a large white Swiss dairy goat widely regarded as one of the highest-yielding milk breeds. It is distributed internationally and underpins many commercial dairy-goat herds.

Shire

Equus caballus

The Shire is an English heavy draught horse breed, among the tallest and most powerful of all horses, historically used for farm work, haulage, and brewery drays and now a conservation-priority breed kept for showing and heritage.

Silkie

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Silkie is an ancient ornamental chicken breed of Asian origin, unmistakable for its fluffy, fur-like plumage, black skin and bones, five toes, and famously broody, docile nature.

Simmental

The Simmental is a large dual-purpose breed originating in the Simme Valley of Switzerland, kept for both beef and milk and among the most widely distributed cattle breeds in the world.

Suffolk

The Suffolk is an English meat sheep breed with a distinctive black, wool-free head and legs, widely used as a terminal sire to produce fast-growing market lambs.

Sussex

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Sussex is an old English dual-purpose chicken breed from south-east England, kept for both eggs and meat, and recognised in several colour varieties of which the Light and Speckled are the most familiar.

Tamworth

Sus scrofa domesticus

The Tamworth is a ginger-red English pig, one of the oldest and least-improved British breeds. Hardy and an active forager, it is a bacon-type pig kept in outdoor systems and is of ongoing conservation interest.

Texas Longhorn

The Texas Longhorn is a hardy North American beef breed descended from Spanish colonial cattle, famous for its very long horns, varied colours, and adaptation to harsh rangeland.

Texel

The Texel is a heavily muscled meat sheep breed from the Dutch island of Texel, widely used across Europe and beyond as a terminal sire for lean, well-conformed carcasses.

Thoroughbred

Equus caballus

The Thoroughbred is a hot-blooded light horse breed developed in England for racing, tracing to three foundation Oriental stallions, and prized for speed, athleticism, and its influence on sport-horse breeding worldwide.

Toggenburg

Capra hircus

The Toggenburg is a Swiss dairy goat, often cited as one of the oldest registered goat breeds. It is recognised by its brown coat with distinctive white facial stripes, ears, legs, and rump.

Wagyu (Japanese Black)

Wagyu refers to Japanese cattle breeds; the dominant Japanese Black is a beef breed renowned for intense intramuscular fat (marbling) and is the basis of many premium branded beef products.

Wyandotte

Gallus gallus domesticus

The Wyandotte is an American dual-purpose chicken breed known for its rose comb, cold-hardiness, and many attractive laced and patterned colour varieties, kept for brown eggs, meat, and exhibition.