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Glan cattle are a traditional cattle breed particularly found in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. At one time they were almost extinct, but today there are about 2,000 animals. Originally multipurpose, they are nowadays mainly used for beef production.
An important breeding aim is the unicoloured yellowish fur. [1]
The modern type of Glan multipurpose cattle was established by Duke Christian IV, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, through an inspection decree of 12 September 1773 that demanded the improvement of the local small red breed through using Simmental and Berne Mountain bulls. By 1762 the import of Swiss cattle had already begun; this was the beginning of Glan cattle breeding.
In Donnersberg and Glan, two different cattle breeds developed: the light, dairy "Glan cattle" and the heavy draught "Donnersberg cattle". In the 19th century the two breeds mixed and became the "Glan-Donnersberg cattle" that were exported to the Hunsrück, the Westerwald and the Eifel.
The first breed associations were founded in 1880 in Meisenheim and Quirnbach, later followed in 1898 by the Glan-Donnersberg Breeding Association based in Kaiserslautern and in 1912 the revived Association of the Rhenish Glan Cattle Breeding Cooperatives (later Association of the Rhenish Glan Cattle Breeders).
In the 1920s they began crossing with Gelbvieh. One decade later they changed the breeding aim: the draught performance, once one of the advantages, became less important. Since 1950 they crossed in Danish Red cattle that caused either the loss of milk performance or of beef performance. This was the beginning of the end of purebred Glan cattle. The crossing in of Gelbvieh, Danish Red cattle and Angeln cattle was continued. In 1967 the pure breed was abandoned, and in 1972 the Association of the Rhenish Glan Cattle Breeders closed.
In 1984 or 1985 an Association for the Conservation and Promotion of the Glan Cattle was founded. In search of old type Glan cattle they discovered 25 cows, among them only 4 purebreds. No living purebred bulls were found, but they found frozen sperm of purebred bulls. For the conservation of the breed they also used bulls of related breeds like Gelbvieh.
Many associations breed Glan cattle today, with the main focus on the beef performance. Noteworthy populations are in Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Highland is a Scottish breed of rustic beef cattle. It originated in the Scottish Highlands and the Western Islands of Scotland and has long horns and a long shaggy coat. It is a hardy breed, able to withstand the intemperate conditions in the region. The first herd-book dates from 1885; two types – a smaller island type, usually black, and a larger mainland type, usually dun – were registered as a single breed. It is reared primarily for beef, and has been exported to several other countries.
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 Angus in north-eastern Scotland. In 2018 the breed accounted for over 17% of the UK beef industry.
The Holstein Friesian is an international breed or group of breeds of dairy cattle. It originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland and in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the dominant breed in industrial dairy farming worldwide, and is found in more than 160 countries. It is known by many names, among them Holstein, Friesian and Black and White.
The Dairy Shorthorn is a British breed of dairy cattle. It derives from the Shorthorn cattle of Tees-side, 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 Senepol breed of beef cattle was developed on the Caribbean Island of St. Croix. It has long been thought that Senepol originated from just crosses between N'Dama cattle, imported in the late 19th century, and Red Poll cattle, but it is actually an admixed breed that consists of Red Poll, N'Dama, Criola and a trace amount of Zebu. The Senepol breed combines characteristics of heat tolerance and insect resistance with the docile nature, good meat, and high milk production of the Red Poll. They are polled, short haired, and colored red, black or brown.
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.
The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late eighteenth century. The breed was developed as dual-purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however, certain blood lines within the breed always emphasised one quality or the other. Over time, these different lines diverged, and by the second half of the twentieth century, two separate breeds had developed – the Beef Shorthorn, and the Milking Shorthorn. All Shorthorn cattle are coloured red, white, or roan, although roan cattle are preferred by some, and completely white animals are not common. However, one type of Shorthorn has been bred to be consistently white – the Whitebred Shorthorn, which was developed to cross with black Galloway cattle to produce a popular blue roan crossbreed, the Blue Grey.
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.
The Shetland, known natively in the Scots language as Shetland kye is a small, hardy Scottish breed of cattle from the Shetland Islands to the north of mainland Scotland. The cattle are normally black and white in colour but there are smaller numbers in grey, red and dun.
Murnau-Werdenfels Cattle are an old, robust dairy breed from Upper Bavaria, the southernmost part of Germany.
The Montbéliarde is a breed of red pied dairy cattle from the area of Montbéliard, in the département of Doubs, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France. It is used mainly for dairying and particularly for cheesemaking.
Murboden Cattle are bred primarily in Carinthia, Styria and Lower Austria in Austria, and in the bordering Slovenia. They are a mountain breed used as beef and milk producers, as well as being draught animals. Hair colour varies from yellowish to light red or grey, with deeper red areas around the horns, eyes, and along the nose. In Slovenia the breed is called Pomurska, and some small purebred herds have survived.
The Pinzgauer is a breed of domestic cattle from the Pinzgau region of the federal state of Salzburg in Austria. It has distinctive colouring, with chestnut-brown sides and white back and underside. It was in the past a triple-purpose breed, raised for meat, milk and draught use. There is a naturally polled sub-type, the Jochberg Hummel. In 2007 the breed was not considered by the FAO to be at risk.
The Australian Lowline is a modern Australian breed of small, polled beef cattle. It was the result of a selective breeding experiment using black Aberdeen Angus cattle at the Agricultural Research Centre of the Department of Agriculture of New South Wales at Trangie. It is among the smallest breeds of cattle, but is not a dwarf breed.
The Sussex is a British breed of red beef cattle from the Weald of Sussex, Surrey and Kent, in south-eastern England. Its traditional use as a draught ox on the Weald continued into the twentieth century. From the late nineteenth century it began to be selectively bred for beef production. It has been exported to many countries of the world; the largest population is in South Africa, where there may be half a million head.
Jutland cattle are a rare Danish breed of cattle used in both dairy and beef production. Bred from the indigenous cattle of Jutland the breed could be light grey, dark grey or black pied with upward curving horns. The first herdbook published in 1881 had a small dairy type and a larger beef type. The dairy cows were small, averaging 120 cm high and weighing 350 kg, producing between 800 and 1000 kg of milk per lactation.
French Simmental is a French cattle breed.
The Black Hereford is a crossbreed of beef cattle produced in Britain and Ireland with Hereford beef bulls and Angus. Black Herefords are not usually maintained from generation to generation, but are constantly produced as a byproduct of a terminal cross. They are one of the most common types of beef cattle in Britain and Ireland, outnumbering many pure beef breeds.
The Corse or Corsicana is a French breed of cattle indigenous to the island of Corsica.
The American Angus is an American breed of beef cattle. It derives from the Scottish Aberdeen Angus population, but may only be black. Red-coated individuals may not be registered with the American Angus Association but can be registered as Red Angus.
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