Finching (cattle)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Finching is a colour pattern of cattle occurring in many unrelated breeds. Cattle with finching are said to be finched or finch-backed.[1]
Finching consists of a white or pale stripe along the spine. It may join to a white head, as in Hereford cattle, continue over the tail, as in Gloucester cattle, or it may form part of a colour-sided pattern, for example in Lineback cattle, Longhorn cattle and Irish Moiled cattle.
In some cattle, such as Jersey cattle and Heck cattle, finching occurs mainly in bulls, forming a cream or white stripe along the spine of a black-brown animal – this is thought to have been the colour pattern of the bulls of the wild ancestor of domesticated cattle, the aurochs.
[edit] References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary Compact Edition 1971: Finch-backed (adjective); Finched (participle adjective)
