Toon Beef: Where do the Leazes cows go in winter?

They’re legendairy


We all know and love the cows, they’re legendairy. When they graze us with their presence during the build up to summer outside the Castle Leazes halls of accommodation, it makes the commute into uni and the journey home from a night out a lot more eventful.  The rumours start flying around with that time someone, somehow, managed to get one into the lifts and it ended up having to be killed because cows can’t walk down stairs, or walk backwards.

The Town Moor, is one of only two places in the UK where farmers have the right to graze their cattle, which goes back centuries in the North East to 1774, in the centre of a city, with the only other being Beverley, a town in Yorkshire.

I know the question on that’s on everyone’s mind is, where do the cows go when they leave us for winter?

Luckily for you, I am here to answer this question. During a recent interview with The Chronicle, one of the farmers revealed there are primarily two options for them. The grazing season typically ends on October 31st, but they sometimes milk it into November. After this, some of the cows go off to market, as they are primarily reared for beef, and others are kept for breeding.

Newcastle Central MP, Chi Onwurah, has come up with the idea of Toon Beef to promote the quality meat of the cows that are partly raised on the moor, and hope the idea will catch on with farmers.

If you miss them Dairylea much, don’t worry, they are due to return from March 31st and are usually sent onto the Leazes field around May. There can be up to 500 cows at any one time, with the number not to exceed 800 of the Aberdeen Angus, or Belgian Blues, according to the Newcastle Upon Tyne Town Moor Act of 1988.