Finching (cattle)

Finching is a colour pattern of cattle occurring in many unrelated breeds. Cattle with finching are said to be finched or finch-backed. ["Oxford English Dictionary" Compact Edition 1971: Finch-backed (adjective); Finched (participle adjective)]

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, or it may form part of a colour-sided pattern, for example in Lineback cattle, Longhorn 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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