We’ve all heard of Shetland ponies, but what about Shetland cattle?
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Paddy Zakaria has been leading a one-person crusade to introduce a sustainable Shetland herd in Australia, not only because she likes the cattle but because there are no other populations outside the United Kingdom.
Paddy started the first Australian-based herd in 2012 and this year hit her peak number of 18 cattle, along with a selection of stored genetics.
Now past retirement age, Paddy is looking for someone to continue her legacy and ensure the survival of the breed in Australia.
Shetland cattle date back about 5000 years and hail from the Shetland Islands north of Scotland. They faced extinction in the 1980s but their numbers have rebounded, although the breed is still considered at risk.
Paddy started working with cattle in Scotland in 2004 and in 2012 decided to start a herd of Shetlands in Australia.
“I’d become interested in the breed and there was no overseas population of Shetlands. In the event of something catastrophic happening in the UK, the breed’s survival was at risk,” she said.
While other native British breeds thrived in countries around the world and could be re-established at home if anything went wrong, Shetlands never took off even though some cows and bulls were exported.
“The whole purpose was to set up an off-shore gene pool for future security of the breed,” Paddy said.
“They don’t look spectacular like the Highland cows — just like ordinary cattle — but they are a useful breed with a lot of attributes.”
The Shetland is predominantly a dairy breed and the milk makes a uniquely flavoured cheese, but it is also popular in the UK as beef.
Paddy lived in Scotland from 1973 until returning to her native Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, initially to the Otways in Victoria but more recently on a 21ha property near Port Arthur in Tasmania.
She chose the land for its high rainfall, although it’s also a pretty spot overlooking the ocean.
“It’s good for cattle,” she says.
“It usually gets about 46 inches of rain but this year we’ve only had about 31. It has been enough to keep it green, but I’m feeding them as well.”
Paddy admits there have been a lot of ups and downs since she started breeding.
“It didn’t go well for a long time, which was one of the reasons why I came back from Scotland,” she said.
“Trying to manage two herds on two different hemispheres doesn’t work. I put so much into it, it would be a disaster if it failed, so I’ve got to develop some sort of succession plan.
“I need to work out how to future-proof the herd. If they just disappeared, it would be a total waste of everything.”
Paddy blames a lack of planning to create sustainable populations across the world, but she was determined to make it work in Australia.
By 2015 she had a small population of Shetlands in Australia, the product of implanting embryos in surrogate Ayrshire heifers.
“It took time because you can’t bring animals into Australia, only by embryo,” she said.
However, there were hurdles. She lost one cow at a genetics facility, one to staggers, had hoped to increase numbers by natural births but for three years in a row got nothing but bull calves, and lost one cow to a snake bite.
She sent embryos and semen for a herd to be established in the United States, but it didn’t work out.
Today, she has virtually all the breed’s gene pool in Australia.
“I’ve got the genetics of 93 per cent of the founders of the whole breed,” Paddy said.
“Even if I didn’t get any more, I’ve got enough for a completely viable, healthy long-term herd here in Australia.”
It’s a small gene pool, but Shetlands cope very well with in-breeding.
Paddy started with 16 embryos and estimates she has spent a lot of money to get her 18 animals and stored semen.
In the hope of creating broader interest, she donated semen to a Rare Breeds Trust of Australia auction last year and will again this year. She has also contacted dairy farmers about taking on the breed, but with no success.
If Australians aren’t aware of Shetland cattle, neither are most Shetlanders.
“They’re not even well known in Shetland where the majority of cattle are commercial,” Paddy said.
“The numbers there are very small, but they had been used just to keep families alive when people were very poor. Families lived off the cow.”
Nobody in Shetland has ever milked them commercially.
“The milk is really special,” Paddy said.
“It has a distinctive flavour but it has never been exploited because the Shetlanders used the milk to keep themselves alive.”
One Yorkshire cheese-making enterprise was a success and today The Rare Dairy, south of Liverpool, sells Shetland milk and yoghurt.
Paddy would like to see something similar in Australia, describing it as a potential goldmine.
Then there’s the option of beef.
“Chefs and butchers who have tried the meat in the UK say it’s the best of all the British natives,” Paddy said.
“A lot of people don’t know about the breed, let alone try the meat, but people who do know it, rave over it.”
Paddy isn’t set up for a dairy — “I’d love to do the whole cheese thing, but I can’t be starting a dairy at my age” — but she reckons there’s potential for other farmers.
“Australia is full of amalgamations of other breeds that work commercially for the Australian climate and environment,” she said.
“They blend and experiment here and the Shetland would be a good animal to use in that way because they’ve got some really interesting attributes, though I’d like to see the purebreds continue.”
They are very hardy and Paddy says their strengths include their composition and volume of milk, strong udders, high levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in milk and lower levels of trans fatty acids than other breeds, great flavour meat, feed efficiency, longevity, high fertility, fast and easy calving, docile temperament and robust health.
The cows are also uniquely multi-coloured.
Paddy’s herd is named Zetralia, combining the original spelling of the islands, Zetland, and Australia.
“If I could snap my fingers, I’d like to find someone like me who has the passion and understanding of breeding programs to take over some of the animals,” Paddy said.
“Now that the herd is big enough, I’d prefer to have them on more than one address.
“This breed is here and it has interesting attributes that could be used in a composite breed or it could be used for a niche commercial enterprise like they did in the UK.”
If anyone is interested in the herd or genetics, they can contact Paddy Zakaria on 0408 715 104 or email zetralia@gmail.com
DNA writer