The legend of Llyn y Fan contains an ancient poem that lists the various colours of the magical fairy cattle that emerged and then returned to the lake on the maiden’s call: Speckled-faced cattle, Polled and speckled, Speckled-rumped cattle, speckled-white, Four fields of broken-speckled. The old white-faced, And the belted blue roan With the white bull From the king’s court And the little black calf, That’s on the hook, Come you as well, healthy home! The four blue bullocks Out on the meadow, Come you as well, healthy home. 12th Century Welsh poem (trans.)

A Colourful History Although black has always been the most prominent colour of Welsh cattle other colour varieties have always existed throughout the ages. References to white cattle with red ears are found in early Irish literature as well in the Welsh laws of the 10th century Welsh king Hywel Dda. Welsh white cattle have always been associated with Dinefwr Castle, the seat of the princes of Deheubarth (west Wales). The herd was moved elsewhere in 1976 before the National Trust brought them back home in 1992. They are still there, roaming the lands of the Lord Rhys. Descriptions of Welsh cattle, especially bulls, are found in the cywyddau of medieval Welsh poets. As well as the obligatory black bulls they also mention black bulls with white tails, the red bulls of Glamorgan and a ‘tri-coloured’ bull in Lanbryn-mair. There is also mention of cattle in Radnorshire that were the colour of ‘milk and beer’. Red cows and red white-faced cows are often mentioned in Glamorgan. Around 1600 fifteen colour varieties of local cattle were recorded in the sale records of two North Pembrokeshire fairs. Colour varieties were often localised. The black was always prevalent in Anglesey and Pembrokeshire, whereas mouse-coloured was common in the Lleyn Peninsular. Smokey-faced red cattle are associated with Montgomeryshire and the Marches, while dun cattle seemed popular in the Banwy valley and blue cows seemed common in Llanfair Caereinion. Welsh country lore still holds that having a blue cow within a dairy herd helps enrich the milk. Red Glamorgan cattle were considered a distinct breed and were often line-backed. In Merionethshire, possibly due to the introduction of Lakenfelder cattle from Germany by Robert Vaughan of Nannau in the 19th century, a strain of Welsh belted cattle was developed that could be either black or red. There are also references to pied, speckled and roan cattle. With the foundation of the Welsh Black Cattle Society in 1905 black was established as the standard Welsh colour and some of the other colour varieties were bred out. The trend continued with the bull licensing laws of 1914 and 1933 and the old colours decreased throughout the 20th century. However, some coloured stock was kept on the remoter farms - particularly through unlicensed white and belted bulls. Moreover, colours that are genetically recessive to black persisted in the general Welsh stock. The Glamorgan breed and the Welsh dun are probably extinct today but six colour varieties are still prominent: white,   belted,   red,   line-backed,   blue,   smokey/mouse These are the standard remaining colours the society aims to promote as the Ancient Cattle of Wales.