The or Armorican is an endangered French

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

domestic cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domestication, domesticated, Cloven hoof, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referr ...

. It originated in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

in the nineteenth century. It has a red coat with white markings, and has short horns.

History

The Armoricaine was created in the nineteenth century by

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

animals of the local Froment du Léon and the now-extinct

Pie Rouge de Carhaix A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts (pecan pie), brown sugar (sugar pie), sweeten ...

breeds with imported Durham (now known as

Shorthorn 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 emp ...

) stock from the United Kingdom. A

herd-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders ...

was started in 1919, and the Armoricaine breed name came into use in 1923. The Armoricaine was used, with

Meuse-Rhine-Issel The Meuse-Rhine-Issel or Meuse-Rhine-Yssel ( nl, Maas-Rijn-IJssel, italic=no) is a Dutch breed of dual-purpose cattle, reared both for meat and for milk. It falls within the Lowland-Pied group of North European cattle; it is red-pied, and o ...

and

Rotbunt The German Red Pied (german: Deutsche Rotbunte, italic=no, or ) is a breed of cattle from Germany. The development of the breed occurred in several regions in Germany during the 19th century, and in 1934 Meuse-Rhine-Issel The Meuse-Rhine ...

stock, in the creation of the

Pie Rouge des Plaines The Pie Rouge des Plaines is a modern French breed of dairy cattle. It was created in about 1970 by cross-breeding the traditional Armorican cattle of Brittany, in north-western France, with red-pied cattle of the Dutch Meuse-Rhine-Yssel a ...

dairy breed Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species ''Bos taurus''. Historically, little distinction was ma ...

of cattle in the 1960s. In the later twentieth century it became rare; by 1978 there were no more than forty cows remaining. Following the discovery of a reserve of frozen semen in the 1980s, a programme of recovery was launched. In 2001 there were 61 cows registered, and 10 bulls; semen from 18 bulls was preserved and available for

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatme ...

. The breed was listed by the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

as "critically endangered" in 2007; in 2005, the population was estimated at about 240 head, and in 2014 it was 263. In 2020 there were 301 cows on 81 farms.

Description

The coat is red, with some white markings. The horns are short. Cows weigh about , and stand about at the

withers The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle ar ...

Use

The Armoricaine is a dual-purpose breed, and may be raised both for meat and for milk. Cows produce some of milk in a

lactation Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The proces ...

of about 305 days. The young grow quickly, and mature animals fatten quickly.

References

{{Cattle breeds of France Cattle breeds originating in France Cattle breeds