The Droimeann cow is an endangered breed of cattle unique to Ireland. [1] It was officially recognised as a rare native breed on 8 January 2020 following DNA profiling which showed that it was genetically distinct from other breeds. [2] Animals may be black, red or roan, but most have a white stripe along the back. In 2020, there were 243 breeding females and 23 breeding males registered. [2]
The Droimeann is a small to medium-sized breed. Their conformation is similar to other dairy breeds and they have a placid disposition. They are variable in colour, ranging from nearly entirely black, through red, to white with dark ears and muzzle. Often the sides and flanks are black, red or blue roan while the topline of the back and the underside of the belly are white. The cattle are hardy and will thrive on poor quality forage which they are good at converting into milk and meat. The milk is high in solids and the meat is well-marbled and has a distinctive flavour. The breed is known for maturing early and being highly fertile. [3]
The Droimeann Cattle Society was established on 11 September 2016 at a meeting of breeders and others interested in the preservation of the breed. A Droimeann Cattle Herdbook was launched on 22 August 2018. To be eligible for inclusion in the herdbook, all animals will have to be genetically tested, and newborn calves will need to be tested before being eligible for inclusion. [3] By January 2020 there were 243 breeding females and 23 breeding males included in the herdbook. [2]
The breed originated in the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. References to the breed can be found in early Irish literature and folklore. [1]
The breed was officially recognised as a rare native breed on 8 January 2020. The Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed said that "the granting of rare breed status to the Droimeann represented a significant boost for the breed, offering both recognition and incentives to farmers in their efforts to preserve the Droimeann". [1]
The Aberdeen Angus, sometimes simply Angus, is a Scottish breed of small beef cattle. It derives from cattle native to the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine and Forfar in north-eastern Scotland. In 2018 the breed accounted for over 17% of the UK beef industry.
Holstein Friesians are a breed of dairy cattle that originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. They are known as the world's highest-producing dairy animals.
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 Ireland. It was originally a slow heavy draught animal; cows gave a little milk, although high in fat. In the eighteenth century Robert Bakewell applied his methods of selective breeding to these cattle, which for a short time became the predominant British breed. Both the numbers and the quality of the breed declined throughout the nineteenth century and for much of the twentieth. A breed society was formed in 1878, and a herd-book published in that year.
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The Simmental or Swiss Fleckvieh is a Swiss breed of dual-purpose cattle. It is named after the Simmental – the valley of the Simme river – in the Bernese Oberland, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is reddish in colour with white markings, and is raised for both milk and meat.
The Dairy Shorthorn is a British breed of dairy cattle. It derives from the Shorthorn cattle of Teesside, in the North Riding of Yorkshire and in Northumbria in north-eastern England. The Shorthorn was for this reason at first known as the Durham or Teeswater.
The Belted Galloway is a traditional Scottish breed of beef cattle. It derives from the Galloway cattle of the Galloway region of south-western Scotland, and was established as a separate breed in 1921. It is adapted to living on the poor upland pastures and windswept moorlands of the region. The exact origin of the breed is unclear, although the white belt for which they are named, and which distinguishes the breed from black Galloway cattle, is often surmised to be the result of cross-breeding with the similarly-coloured Dutch Lakenvelder breed.
South Devon cattle are a British breed of large beef cattle. It originated in the counties of Devon and Cornwall in south-west England, and is mentioned from the 18th century. It was a dual-purpose breed, kept both for its milk and for beef. Since 1972, selection has been for beef only.
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The Randall Lineback or Randall is an American breed of cattle. It originated in Sunderland, Vermont, and is critically endangered.
The White Park is a rare breed of ancient horned cattle primarily residing in Great Britain. Two similar semi-feral populations, the Chillingham Wild Cattle in Northumbria and the Vaynol cattle from Gwynedd in North Wales, have a separate breed status. There are relatively small numbers of the White Park cattle in the United States, where they are commonly known as the Ancient White Park in order to distinguish them from the American White Park, which is a population of the British White breed.
The Old Gloucester or Gloucester is a traditional British breed of cattle originating in Gloucestershire and surrounding areas in the West Country of England. It was originally a triple-purpose breed, reared for milk, for beef and for draught use; it is now a dual-purpose animal. It is an endangered breed, and its conservation status is listed as "priority" by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust.
The Agerolese is a breed of dairy cattle from the area of Agerola, in Campania in southern Italy. It is particularly associated with the Sorrento Peninsula and Monti Lattari. It derives from cross-breeding of indigenous Podolica cattle with Italian Holstein-Friesian, Bruna Italiana and Jersey cattle. It is one of the sixteen minor Italian cattle breeds of limited diffusion recognised and protected by the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, the Italian ministry of agriculture.
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The Ferrandaise is an endangered French breed of domestic cattle from the département of Puy-de-Dôme, in the Massif Central mountains of Auvergne, in central France. It is named for the city and commune of Clermont-Ferrand, the capital of Puy-de-Dôme.
The Podolica is a breed of domestic cattle from southern Italy. It belongs to the Podolic group of grey cattle. It is raised in the regions of Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise and Puglia. It was formerly distributed throughout most of mainland Italy and as far as Istria, now part of Croatia, and where it is now regarded as a separate breed, the Istrian or Boškarin. The Podolica was in the past bred principally as a draught animal; with the mechanisation of agriculture following the Second World War demand for draught oxen disappeared, and the Podolica is now raised for meat and, to a lesser extent, for milk.
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