Ask Joe Henderson any question and odds are he'll give you a
very thorough answer. But ask him how to save one of the most
endangered species in the world, the Randall Lineback, he'll
give you a very short retort: You have to eat it. Henderson, a
Washington, D.C. real estate executive and farmer, raises around
250 Randall Linebacks on the rolling hills of his Chapel Hill
Farm in Berryville, Va. And what exactly is a Randall Lineback?
"Well, we don't know what to call it," says Henderson. First of
all, it's a cow. Its ancestry dates back almost 400 years to
colonial America. After that, describing it has been a
challenge. Attempts have included the "beluga of beef," "rose
veal," or the "pandas of the cow world." Plus, there's a small
debate over the name "Randall Lineback" as well. But whatever
you want to call it, one thing is for sure: the Randall Lineback
cow is critically endangered, with roughly 500 head alive
worldwide according to the American Livestock Breeds
Conservancy. Several small herds are scatte