Finching is a colour pattern of cattle occurring in many unrelated breeds. It consists of a white or pale stripe along the spine. It may join to a white head, as in

Hereford cattle The Hereford is a British List of cattle breeds, breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It was the result of selective breeding from the mid-eighteenth century by a few famil ...

, continue over the tail, as in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

and

Pinzgau The Bezirk Zell am See is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Pinzgau region (). The area of the district is , with a population of 84,124 (May 15, 2001), and population dens ...

cattle, or it may form part of another

colour-sided Colour-sided is a colour pattern of domesticated cattle. It is sometimes called lineback. Characteristics The pattern consists of a dark body colour, with white finching along the spine, white under the belly, and often white also over the ...

pattern, for example in

Randall Lineback The Randall Lineback or Randall is an American breed of cattle. It originated in Bennington County, Vermont, and is critically endangered. History The Randall derives from traditional linebacked or color-sided cattle once widespread in New ...

English Longhorn The Longhorn or British Longhorn is a British breed of beef cattle characterised by long curving horns. It originated in northern England, in the counties of Lancashire, Westmorland and Yorkshire, and later spread to the English Midlands and to ...

Texas Longhorn The Texas Longhorn is an American breed of beef cattle, characterized by its long horns, which can span more than from tip to tip. It derives from cattle brought from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas by Spanish conquistadors from the ti ...

Speckle Park The Speckle Park is a modern Canadian breed of beef cattle. It was developed in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan from 1959, by cross-breeding stock of the British Aberdeen Angus and Shorthorn breeds; the spotted or speckled pattern for which ...

and

Irish Moiled The Irish Moiled is a rare cattle breed from Ireland. It is a dual-purpose breed, reared for both beef and milk. It originated in County Leitrim, County Sligo, County Down, and County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, cou ...

cattle. In some breeds, such as

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

and Heck cattle, finching occurs mainly in bulls, forming a cream or white stripe along the spine of a black-brown animal. Cattle with finching are said to be ''finched'' or ''finch-backed''.''Oxford English Dictionary'' Compact Edition 1971: Finch-backed (adjective); Finched (participle adjective)

References

Cattle {{cattle-stub