The Diffusion of the Improved Shorthorn Breed of Cattle in Britain during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

The modernization of the British countryside during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries presents a lengthy agenda for historico-geographic research. This paper considers the progress of the improvement of British cattle by focusing on the diffusion of the important Improved Shorthorn breed. The changing distribution of pedigree Shorthorn breeders is plotted decade by decade from the contents of Coates's Herd Book of recorded pedigrees. The patterns indicate that the spread of the improvement from its area of origin in north-east England was spatially coherent and rational, but not rapid. Tardiness in adopting the innovation may be related both to distance from place of origin and competition from rival breeds. The final section stresses that the pedigree breeders were an élite whose exact influence on the overall character of the Shorthorn improvement has yet to be established.