ANCIENT WHITE PARK CATTLE

The centerpiece of Leaping Waters Farm is the herd of Ancient White Park cattle. LWF is one of a half dozen farms in the US who raise this storied breed. There are currently under 600 breeding animals in the US and the breed is the oldest observed and recorded breed in the Western Hemisphere; the Roman Army first documented the breed in 39 AD.

Ancient White Park cattle were the sole property of the ancient kings of Britain dating from 900 to the early 20th century. King John 1st, upon first eating the loin of an Ancient White Park, drew his sword and knighted the dish, dubbing it ‘Sir Loin’. They were exported to the Bronx Zoo in the late 30′s to avoid annihilation in the coming blitz and have only been part of an active conservation program since the 1980′s.

The flavor of this beef is unlike any other. The steers are raised until they are ready for slaughter, averaging 30 months, and are then dry aged for 4 to 6 weeks before the whole-animal butchering process begins at Herd.