The Limousin, French: Limousine, is a French breed of beef cattle from the Limousin and Marche regions of France. It was formerly used mainly as a draught animal, but in modern times is reared for beef. A herd-book was established in France in 1886. With the mechanisation of agriculture in the twentieth century, numbers declined. In the 1960s there were still more than 250 000 head, but the future of the breed was not clear; it was proposed that it be merged with the other blonde draught breeds of south-western France – the Blonde des Pyrénées, the Blonde de Quercy and the Garonnaise – to form the new Blonde d'Aquitaine. Instead, a breeders' association was formed; new importance was given to extensive management, to performance recording and to exports. In the twenty-first century the Limousin is the second-most numerous beef breed in France after the Charolais. It is a world breed, raised in about eighty countries round the world, many of which have breed associations.

Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production. The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operations, backgrounding, and feedlot operations. The production cycle of the animals starts at cow-calf operations; this operation is designed specifically to breed cows for their offspring. From here the calves are backgrounded for a feedlot. Animals grown specifically for the feedlot are known as feeder cattle, the goal of these animals is fattening. Animals not grown for a feedlot are typically female and are commonly known as replacement heifers. While the principal use of beef cattle is meat production, other uses include leather, and beef by-products used in candy, shampoo, cosmetics, and insulin.