The Rubia Gallega, gl, Rubia Galega, italic=no, is a

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 ...

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, 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 referred to as cows and adult mal ...

native to the

autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

of Galicia in north-western Spain. It is raised mainly for meat. It is distributed throughout Galicia, with about 75% of the population concentrated in the

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 ...

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

. The coat may be red-blond, wheaten, or cinnamon-coloured.

History

A herdbook was established in 1933. In the 20th century, some crossbreeding occurred with the Portuguese

Barrosã The Barrosã is a cattle breed from Portugal. The Barrosã breed has the protected geographical status of DOC (''Denominação de Origem Controlada'') from the European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European ...

, Swiss

Braunvieh The Braunvieh (German, "brown cattle") or Swiss Brown is a breed or group of breeds of domestic cattle originating in Switzerland and distributed throughout the Alpine region. It falls within the "Brown Mountain" group of cattle breeds. The Swis ...

Simmental The Simmental ( en, Simme Valley) is an Swiss Alps, alpine valley in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. It expands from Lenk to Boltigen, in a more or less south-north direction (Obersimmental (district), Obersimmental), and from there to the v ...

, and British

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 ...

breeds. At the end of 2015, the total registered Rubia Gallega population was 39,971, of which almost all were in Galicia. The breed is distributed throughout the autonomous community, with about 75% of the population concentrated in Lugo. It is found particularly at altitudes above about in the mountainous areas in the northern part of the province, including the , the , and the .

Use

The Rubia Gallega is primarily a

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 ...

breed. The milk is used in the production of Tetilla cheese, which has had Denominación de Origen certification since 1993 and European DOP certification since 1996. The Rubia Gallega has a tranquil temperament and is suitable for

draught work 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 t ...

; however, it is slow in comparison to

oxen An ox ( : oxen, ), also known as a bullock (in BrE British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer spec ...

of other breeds.

References

Cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in Spain Galicia (Spain) {{cattle-stub