From 1946 all registered pedigree Lincoln Red cattle had herd book numbers that were divided into two sections. Lincoln Red dairy, and Lincoln Red beef.  Originally a dual purpose breed, selective breeding had resulted in the beef side of the breed taking dominance, although still retaining the  ‘milkiness’ and good calving traits of the dairy type of Lincoln Red. In 1939, Mr. Pentecost, a Nottinghamshire breeder had started to develop a polled Lincoln Red. By using red Aberdeen Angus bulls on some of his Lincoln Red females and then back-crossing for five generations Mr. Pentecost had managed to breed a polled (hornless) animal. In 1946 his polled Lincoln Red was accepted by the Ministry Of Agriculture for licensing.  All the cattle born polled and registered in the herd book carried the letter ’P’ in front of their herd book number to denote that they were polled animals and not pure Lincoln Reds. Once again in the 1980’s the commercial interest in Lincoln Red Cattle prompted a new Breed Development scheme. This time a managed scheme to add a small amount of continental blood into the breed was started. This was to create a more commercial, leaner animal with a better conformation, whilst once again retaining  the qualities of the Dam and the quality, texture, flavour and famous marbling in the beef. Once back-crossing using Lincoln Red bulls had been done to achieve an animal over 87.50%, the male or female was allowed to be registered as a Pedigree, but with ’XP’ in front of the herd book number to denote that their fore borne had been through a breed development scheme.  When you are looking at cattle for sale just remember that  ‘XP’ in front of the number indicates that the animal has a small percentage of a continental blood line. Any % shown after the numbers indicates  the  amount of Lincoln Red blood line in that animal. No % mark means that the animal is regarded as being 100% for breeding purposes. ‘P’ in front of the numbers indicates that the animal is ‘polled’ not pure, a common mistake to make. All ’P’ animals are classed as 100% for breeding purposes.