Camargue cattle
The Camargue is a breed of domestic cattle native to the Camargue marshlands of the river delta of the Rhône in southern France. It used for the sport of course camarguaise, a kind of bloodless bull-fight. It is one of two cattle breeds raised in semi-feral conditions in the Camargue, the other is the Brava or Race de Combat, since 1996 it has been officially known as the Provençal, Raço di Biòu. It is one of two cattle breeds raised in the area, the other being the Brava or Race de Combat, a fighting breed. Both are associated with the rural and cultural traditions of the Camargue, including the gardians, mounted herders who manage the livestock in manades, and the small white Camargue horses they ride. In 1996 beef from the two breeds of the Camargue, or from cross-breeds between them, received Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée status as Taureau de Camargue. The name of the Camargue breed was changed to Raço di Biòu, in 2014 it was reported to be 5332. The Raço di Biòu is uniformly black, or occasionally dark brown.147 The mucous membranes are dark, in the ring, raseteurs must try to remove a cockade from the forehead of the bull.
The bullocks are driven on foot to the arena by mounted gardians, approximately 2000 head are sold each year for beef.147 The Raço di Biòu is managed extensively in the wetlands of the Camargue. The cattle are kept in manades, and herded by mounted gardians.187 The cattle contribute to the maintenance of large areas of Camargue wetland,183 and are regarded as a tourist attraction. Media related to Camargue cattle at Wikimedia Commons
Limousin cattle
Limousin cattle are a breed of highly muscled beef cattle originating from the Limousin and Marche regions of France. The breed is known as Limousine in France, Limousins were first exported from France in significant numbers in the 1960s and are now present in about 70 countries. They are naturally horned and have a distinctive lighter wheat to darker golden-red colouring, although breeders have now bred polled. Initially used mainly as draft animals, interest in Limousins as a source of quality meat grew about two hundred years ago. Limousins have become popular because of their low birth weights, higher than average dressing percentage and yield, high feed conversion efficiency, the other cattle breeds produced proportionally more low-cost by-product and waste, which resulted in their live weight growth being faster than Limousins. The history of Limousin cattle begins in the known as the Pleistocene. One of the megafauna that survived until the 17th century was the aurochs, cave paintings estimated to be 17,300 years old of many figures, including aurochs, were discovered in 1940 in Lascaux in the Dordogne region of south-western France.
Because of their appearance, the aurochs depicted in the paintings were popularly, three subspecies of aurochs are formally recognised, with the Eurasian subspecies reaching Europe about 250,000 years ago, where it survived until the 17th century. Eurasian aurochs were domesticated into cattle breeds of European form commencing about 8,000 years ago in a region known as the Fertile Crescent in the Near East. These cattle began to enter Europe during and after the Neolithic expansion, while many European cattle breeds probably evolved from domesticated Near East ancestors, their genetics were heavily influenced by different herd management approaches across Europe. Analysis of central European cattle, including Limousins, indicates that the origin of male and female DNA can be traced directly to cattle domesticated in the Near East, DNA studies have identified close genetic relationships between Limousin cattle and other south-west European breeds. One study reported a common origin or recent gene flow between the Limousin and Charolais cattle breeds.
Whereas other studies indicated that a genetic relationship exists between Limousin, Aubrac, Bazadais and Blonde dAquitaine cattle. One historian reported that the Limousin breeds origins can be traced to the blonde Garonne breed in the 5th century AD, the Garonne breed from the south-west of France was merged into the Blonde dAquitaine breed in 1962. The grey Gasconne breed with which Limousin cattle have a genetic relationship is reported to have arrived in the south-west of France with the Visigoths around the 5th century AD. Limousin cattle are identified as members of an intensively selected blond and red branch of hardy, no scientific studies have been published that identify the origins of, or demonstrate a possible common ancestral link between, all blond and red family members. Limousin cattle evolved in the French region now known as Limousin, the region comprises the historical French provinces of Limousin and Marche, which include the departments of Corrèze in its entirety, most of Creuse, and parts of Haute-Vienne.
Limousin cattle adapted to the local conditions of acidic soils and weakly mineralised granite
Abondance cattle
The Abondance is a mixed race breed of cattle which originated in the high valleys of Haute-Savoie, France. They are medium-sized, with the weighing in at between 580 and 680 kilograms and standing 1.30 metres tall. They are golden brown in color with a head, underside of the abdomen. The bull weighs in at between 645 and 820 kilograms and stands 1.70 metres tall and their colour is different, with a chestnut red and a bit of white on the head. Their milk is rich in fat and protein, with a good balance between the two. The milk is used to produce Appellation dOrigine Contrôlée cheese such as the reblochon, tome des Bauges. Typical milk production is 5700 kg per lactation and this breed of cattle is especially appreciated for its ability to withstand extreme variations in temperature, its fertility, its ease of breeding, its milk, its long life and its meat. It comes from the Chablais in Haute-Savoie, where it was bred by the monks of the abbaye de Saint-Maurice dAgaune since the 12th century and it was originally known as the chablaisienne.
Currently, there are about 150,000 head of abondance in France and they have been exported to North America, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Africa. In West Africa, they have been bred with Ndama
Holstein Friesian cattle
Holstein Friesians are a breed of dairy cattle originating from the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and what is now Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany and Jutland. They are known as the worlds highest-production dairy animals, the Dutch breeders bred and oversaw the development of the breed with the goal of obtaining animals that could best use grass, the areas most abundant resource. Over the centuries, the result was a high-producing, black-and-white dairy cow, with the growth of the New World, markets began to develop for milk in North America and South America, and dairy breeders turned to the Netherlands for their livestock. After about 8,800 Friesians had been imported, disease problems in Europe led to the cessation of exports to markets abroad, in Europe, the breed is used for milk in the north, and meat in the south. Since 1945, European national development has led to cattle breeding, more than 80% of dairy production is north of a line joining Bordeaux and Venice, which has more than 60% of the total cattle.
This change led to the need for specialized animals for dairy production, until this time and beef had been produced from dual-purpose animals. The breeds, national derivatives of the Dutch Friesian, had very different animals from those developed by breeders in the United States. Breeders imported specialized dairy Holsteins from the United States to cross with the European black, for this reason, in modern usage, Holstein is used to describe North or South American stock and its use in Europe, particularly in the North. Friesian denotes animals of a traditional European ancestry, bred for both dairy and beef use, crosses between the two are described by the term Holstein-Friesian. Holsteins have distinctive markings, usually black and white or red, on rare occasions some have both black and red colouring with white. Red factor causes this unique colouring, blue is a known colour. This colour is produced by white hairs mixed with the hairs giving the cow a blueish tint. This colouring is known as blue roan in some farm circles and they are famed for their large dairy production, averaging 22530 pounds of milk per year.
Of this milk 858 pounds is butterfat and 719 pounds is protein, a healthy calf weighs 40 to 50 kg or more at birth. A mature Holstein cow typically weighs 680-770 kg, and stands 145-165 cm tall at the shoulder, Holstein heifers should be bred by 11 to 14 months of age, when they weigh 317-340 kg or 55% of adult weight. Generally, breeders plan for Holstein heifers to calve for the first time between 21 and 24 months of age and 80% of adult bodyweight, the gestation period is about nine and a half months. Historical records suggest these cattle were black, and the Friesian cattle at this time were pure white, crossbreeding may have led to the foundation of the present Holstein-Friesian breed, as the cattle of these two tribes from are described identically in historical records. The portion of the country bordering on the North Sea, called Frisia, was situated within the provinces of North Holland and Groningen, the people were known for their care and breeding of cattle
Blonde d'Aquitaine
The Blonde dAquitaine is a modern French breed of large domestic beef cattle. It is the third-most numerous beef breed of France, after the Charolais and it has been exported to many countries round the world. In 2013 there were about 560000 head in more than 18000 farms.132 The Blonde dAquitaine has been exported to countries of the world. The Blonde dAquitaine is raised exclusively for beef, whether purebred or cross-bred, bullocks reach almost 300 kg at 210 days, and about 500 kg at 15 months. Carcass yield is about 65%.132 Media related to Blonde dAquitaine at Wikimedia Commons
Parthenaise
The Parthenaise is a French cattle breed. It is named for the town of Parthenay in the département of Deux-Sèvres and it was formerly a triple-purpose breed, raised for milk and draught work, but is now raised mainly for beef. The cattle were sometimes called Gâtinaises or Boeufs de Gâtine, so named for the Gâtine Vendéenne, at the end of their working lives, these oxen were often sent to the area of Cholet to be fattened for slaughter, these were known as Choletaises. The name of the breed is due to Eugène Gayot, who in 1860 identified Parthenay, in the département of Deux-Sèvres, in the second half of the nineteenth century many vineyards were destroyed by phylloxera and uprooted, the land was turned to pasture. A number of dairy co-operatives were formed, and the Parthenaise was used to produce a type of butter marketed as Charente-Poitou, by the late nineteenth century there were some 1.1 million head.267 A herd-book was established in 1893,267 or 1894. From that time the population began to decline, by the 1960s it had become clear that the dual-purpose aim for the breed was no longer viable, and in 1971 the decision was taken to select for beef production only.
Since that time the population has grown consistently, the number of breeding cows rose from 7000 in 1990 to 33000 in 2008, in 2014 the total breed population was reported at 43187. The Maraîchine thus represents a form of the Parthenaise. The breed has been exported to the Belgium, the Netherlands, the hair colour is golden brown, with lighter eyes and legs while the nose and tail are black. After a multi purpose history, they have been bred as a pure beef breed since 1970. Cows have enough milk to rear their calves
Bretonne Pie Noir
The Bretonne Pie Noir is breed of small dairy cattle from Brittany in north-western France. It originates from Cornouaille and the Pays de Vannes in the départements of Finistère, due to its small size, modest requirements, good productivity and ability to exploit poor and marginal terrain, it was well suited to traditional Breton agriculture. A herdbook was established in 1886, the breed was in the past numerous, at the beginning of the twentieth century there were about 500,000. Numbers fell drastically during that century, and in 1976, when about 15,000 remained, a conservation plan was begun. The Bretonne Pie Noir is pied black and white, a red pied variant disappeared during the twentieth century, height at the withers averages 123 cm for males,117 cm for females, average weight is 600 kg for bulls,450 kg for cows. The milk yield of the Bretonne Pie Noir is about 3500 kg per lactation, the milk has 4. 4% fat and 3. 4% protein
Lourdaise
The Lourdaise is an endangered French breed of domestic cattle. It was formerly a triple-purpose breed, kept for its milk, for its meat and it was widely distributed in the Pyrénées of south-western France. It came close to extinction in the 1980s, but has since recovered following conservation efforts, the Lourdaise originated in the rural areas surrounding Lourdes, now in the Hautes-Pyrénées département of Occitanie. It was particularly associated with the cantons of Argelès, Bagnères-de-Bigorre and Ossun and it was the principal cattle breed of the traditional regions of the Bigorre and of the Lavedan. A herd-book was established in the 1890s, and in 1896 it held a total of 850 animals, at the beginning of the twentieth century there were some 25000 head,233 more than 200 bulls were approved for public use as sires. By 1983, only 30 Lourdaise cows remained, conservation efforts were begun, with contributions from the Parc National des Pyrénées, the French Ministry of Agriculture, and the regional administration of Haute-Pyrénées.
The Lourdaise was listed as critical-maintained by the FAO in 2007.41 In 2014 the total population was reported to be 268, the Lourdaise is white or cream-coloured. The skin is white and the muzzle and mucous areas are pale, the inner side of the thigh and the surround of the eyes and of the muzzle is white. The Lourdaise was formerly a triple-purpose breed, kept for its milk, for its meat and for draught work. Milk production is estimated at 3000 l in a lactation of 305 days, fat content is about 3. 8% and protein about 3. 3%.241 There is enough milk for naturally-fed milk veal production
