, country = France , distribution =

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 January ...

, standard = , use = meat , maleweight = 900 kg , femaleweight = 600 kg , maleheight = , femaleheight = 135 cm , skincolour = white , coat = wheaten , horn = horned in both sexes , subspecies = taurus , note = The Béarnaise is a 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 ...

of domestic

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operat ...

. It originates in the area of the traditional

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Béarn The Béarn (; ; oc, Bearn or ''Biarn''; eu, Bearno or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three Bas ...

, in the east of the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlanti ...

, in the northern

Pyrénées The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

in south-west France. It was merged with other breeds in 1920 to form the Blonde des Pyrénées, which in turn was fused with the Blonde de Quercy and Garonnaise breeds to create the

Blonde d'Aquitaine The Blonde d'Aquitaine is a modern French breed of large domestic beef cattle. It was created in 1962 by merging three blonde draught breeds of south-western France, the Blonde des Pyrénées, the Blonde de Quercy and the Garonnaise. Since ...

in 1962.

History

The Béarnaise originated in the area of the traditional

, in the east of the

, in the northern

in south-western France. It was a triple-purpose breed, kept for its meat, for its milk, and as a

draught animal A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for tr ...

. 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 established in 1900. The Béarnaise was merged with several other local blonde breeds, including the extinct Basquiaise and Race d'Urt, to create the Blonde des Pyrénées ( es, ), for which the herd-book was started in 1920. The Blonde des Pyrénées was in turn merged with the Blonde de Quercy and Garonnaise breeds to create the

in 1962. A small number of the original type of the Béarnaise survived in the

Vallée d'Aspe The Aspe Valley is a valley in the French part of the Pyrenees, department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Geography It is one of the three valleys located in the historic region of upper Béarn, along with the Ossau Valley to the east and Barétou ...

, and from these the breed was re-constituted. A herd-book was begun in 1982, and a breeders' association was formed in 2003. The conservation status of the Béarnaise 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 "critical-maintained" in 2007. In 2010, 56 owners had a total of 223 cows. In 2014 the population was reported at 324 head.

Characteristics

The Béarnaise is wheat-coloured, varying from a dark fawn to white. It is heavily

dewlap A dewlap is a longitudinal flap of skin or similar flesh that hangs beneath the lower jaw or neck of many vertebrates. More loosely, it can be various similar structures in the neck area, such as those caused by a double chin or the submandibula ...

ped, with long lyre-shaped horns. The skin and mucous membranes are pale, the surround of the eye

phaeomelanic Melanin (; from el, μέλας, melas, black, dark) is a broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms. Eumelanin is produced through a multistage chemical process known as melanogenesis, where the oxidation of the amino ...

. It is well adapted to draught work and to the mountain environment of the Pyrénées.

Use

The Béarnaise was formerly a triple-purpose breed, kept for milk, for meat and for draught work. It was traditionally milked for only about six months; the milk was used to make mixed cows'-milk/sheep's-milk cheeses. Milk production is low, approximately 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 200 days.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Béarnaise (Cattle) Cattle breeds originating in France Cattle breeds