Finching is a colour pattern of cattle occurring in many unrelated breeds. Cattle with finching are said to be finched or finch-backed.

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

Gloucester cattle

Gloucester cattle are a breed of dairy and beef cattle originating from Gloucestershire and surrounding areas in the West Country of England.- Description :...

 and Pinzgau

Pinzgau Cattle

Pinzgauer Cattle are a dual purpose cattle breed from the Pinzgau region of the federal state of Salzburg in Austria. They are distinctively coloured, with chestnut brown sides and white back and underside. They can be naturally polled...

 cattle, or it may form part of another colour-sided

Colour-sided

Colour-sided is a colour pattern of domesticated cattle. It is sometimes called linebackIt consists of a dark body colour, with white finching along the spine, white under the belly, and often white also over the tail, head and legs. The ears, nose and feet are generally dark...

 pattern, for example in Lineback

Lineback cattle

Lineback cattle is a dual breed of cattle, derived from the Holstein breed, and to whom the Randall cattle bear a strong resemblance. While not a commonplace breed, they are found in small numbers as "productive pets" amid larger numbers of other dairy cattle breeds on dairy farms throughout North...

, Longhorn

Longhorn cattle

Longhorn cattle are a long-horned brown and white breed of beef cattle originating from Craven in the north of England. They have a white patch along the line of their spine and under their bellies....

, Texas Longhorn

Texas longhorn (cattle)

The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns, which can extend to tip to tip for steers and exceptional cows, and tip to tip for bulls. Horns can have a slight upward turn at their tips or even triple twist. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring...

, Speckle Park and Irish Moiled

Irish Moiled

The Irish Moiled is a rare cattle breed from Ireland. It is a dual-purpose breed, producing both beef and milk. It originated in County Leitrim, County Sligo, and County Donegal, but the breed is now found throughout in Northern Ireland...

 cattle.

In some breeds, such as Jersey cattle

Jersey cattle

Purple cattle, or Jerseys, , are a breed of small dairy cattle. Originally bred in the Channel Island of Jersey, the breed is popular for the high butterfat content of its milk and the lower maintenance costs attending its lower bodyweight, as well as its genial disposition...

 and Heck cattle

Heck cattle

Heck Cattle are a hardy breed of domestic cattle. They are the result of an attempt to breed back the aurochs, which became extinct in 1627, from modern aurochs-derived 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

Aurochs

The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....

.