Sussex are a traditional English breed, they have evolved over hundreds of years from the dark red cattle that roamed the woodlands of Southern England from the time of the Norman Conquest.

Mentioned in poems by Rudyard Kipling “With my Sussex Cattle feeding in the dew! From the walls of Bulawayo in broken file they came”.

Once used as draft cattle for ploughing, because of their temperament, making the handling of these cattle a pleasure.

This British breed has been exported to a number of countries, they have proven to be tolerant to a wide range of climatic conditions, good foragers, very popular in South Africa, where there are many large herds, and they are naturally resistant to ticks, helped by that short red coat.

Popular with the butcher for the percentage of meat to bone, the Sussex caucus characteristics are, their strong marbling, producing succulent beef with less fat, winning many caucus competitions.

Not arriving in Australia until 1970, it has taken many years with harsh selecting to breed up the polling in our herd’s, this has meant heavy culling, difficult to do at times when numbers are low.

Our Bull’s have proven to be popular for the mating of heifers, in commercial herds, important to get that live calf on the ground.

With bull sales, now from Esperance in the East to Geraldton in the North of Western Australia the Eastern States, Victoria and Queensland the Sussex have moved slowly across Australia.

Though now listed in many places as a rare breed, we work to keep the breed alive in Australia. In the UK numbers are growing the Sussex Society are very active but herds there are small.

Alister Lyon
Sussex Society President of Western Australia
October 2007