Vaynol cattle are white, with black ears, eyelids, hooves, and a black nose; sometimes also black socks and ends of the horns (black points). The females may even have black teats on their udder. The males have long horns, which grown out the side of the head, and then flick upwards (to quite a height); the females do not have horns. The breed on average weighing 300-450kg.

The breed itself is very old, dating back to the  late 1800’s. White cattle with coloured points are first mentioned in literature, dating back almost 2,000 years. It is also a beef breed (not a dairy cow).

Vaynol cattle are on the Rare Breed survival trust list, classified as Critical – meaning there is less than 150 left in the UK. This makes them one the rarest breeds in Britain. They are a semi-feral breed, largely maintained on large estates and national parks. Due to being semi-feral, with little human interaction/ intervention, they are quite wary of humans and seen as a timid breed. Although, slowly making a come-back with more human intervention nowadays – with breeding programmes set in place and measures taken to avoid inbreeding within such small numbers of individuals.