Blonde D'Aquitaine
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The Blonde d'Aquitaine is a modern French
breed A breed is a specific group of breedable 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 seve ...
of large 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 opera ...
. 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 about 1970, it has been
selectively bred Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant ma ...
specifically for beef production. It is the third-most numerous beef breed of France, after the Charolais and the
Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
. It has been exported to many countries round the world.


History

The Blonde d'Aquitaine breed was created in 1962 by merging three blonde breeds of south-western France, the Blonde de Quercy, the Garonnaise and the Blonde des Pyrénées. All three were principally draught breeds. The Garonnaise had been numerous in
Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...
– 400,000 head were recorded in 1880; a
herd-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry, 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 wh ...
was started in 1898. The Blonde des Pyrénées was itself an amalgam of several other breeds, including the Béarnaise, the Race d'Urt, and the Basquiaise; its herd-book was started in 1920, the same year as that of the Blonde de Quercy. The Blonde d'Aquitaine includes almost all the traditional blonde cattle breeds of southern France, although remnant populations of a few of them have allowed them to be reconstituted. The moving force behind the creation of the breed was Raphaël Trémouille, a
veterinary surgeon Veterinary surgery is surgery performed on non-human animals by veterinarians, whereby the procedures fall into three broad categories: orthopaedics (bones, joints, muscles), soft tissue surgery (skin, body cavities, cardiovascular system, GI/u ...
and member of the lower chamber of the French parliament. From about 1970, concerted efforts were made to improve the beef production attributes of the breed. The Blonde d'Aquitaine is the third beef breed of France by numbers, after the Charolais and the
Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
. In 2013 there were about head in more than farms. The Blonde d'Aquitaine has been exported to many countries of the world, including all countries of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
. In 2024 it was reported by 28 countries, mostly in Europe; 23 of them also reported population data. Outside France, where the total population was reported at over 1 million head, populations of over head were reported by Brazil and the Netherlands. It is much used for
cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...
in Oceania and in Eastern Europe, and has shown particular promise when crossed with
zebuine cattle The zebu (; ''Bos indicus''), also known as indicine cattle and humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in South Asia. Zebu, like many Sanga cattle breeds, differs from taurine cattle by a fatty hump on their sh ...
breeds in South America.


Characteristics

The Blonde d'Aquitaine is wheat- or cream-coloured, varying from a dark to very light fawn; the surround of the eyes and the area round the muzzle is paler. The skin is white, and the muzzle and mucous areas pale.


Use

The Blonde d'Aquitaine is raised exclusively for beef, whether purebred or cross-bred. Bullocks reach almost at 210 days (7 months), and about at 15 months. Carcass yield is about .


References

Beef cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in France {{bots, deny=Citation bot