Finching (cattle)

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Finching is a colour pattern of cattle occurring in many unrelated breeds. Cattle with finching are said to be finched or finch-backed.^[1]

Finching consists of a white or pale stripe along the spine. It may join to a white head, as in Hereford cattle, continue over the tail, as in Gloucester cattle and Pinzgauer cattle, or it may form part of a colour-sided pattern, for example in Lineback cattle, Longhorn cattle (pertaining to Texas Longhorn cattle and English Longhorn cattle), Speckle Park cattle and Irish Moiled cattle.

In some cattle, such as Jersey cattle and Heck cattle, finching occurs mainly in bulls, forming a cream or white stripe along the spine of a black-brown animal – this is thought to have been the colour pattern of the bulls of the wild ancestor of domesticated cattle, the Aurochs.

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