A rescue became a continuing conservation effort

A 2011 Cornell Small Farms account describes how the remnants of the Randall family’s Vermont herd became the focus of a rescue after Everett Randall died in 1985. It reports Cynthia Creech’s purchase of surviving animals and subsequent work rebuilding a population. The story concerns a particular closed herd and its descendants, rather than every cow with a lineback coat pattern.

The article also describes plans for satellite herds, maintaining cow families and preserving genetic material. Geographical distribution can reduce the possibility that one local disaster affects every surviving animal. Maintaining distinct families gives later breeders options that would be lost if a single fashionable sire dominated the population.

Vermont formally recognized the Randall Lineback as a heritage breed in March 2006. Recognition helped make its cultural significance visible, but a designation cannot replace continued breeding and husbandry. Population figures and organizational disputes reported in this 2011 feature belong to that historical moment; they should not be presented as the breed’s current census or current organizational arrangements.