The Froment du Léon is an endangered 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 ...

dairy cattle Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred with 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 ...

from the coastal region of northern

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, in the north-west of France. It is named for the historic

Viscounty of Léon The Viscounty or County of Léon () was a Feudalism, feudal state in extreme western Brittany in the High Middle Ages. Though nominally a vassal of the sovereign duke of Brittany, Léon was functionally independent of any external controls until th ...

, in the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

s of

Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor ( , ; ; , ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord until 1990 (, ), is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.Finistère Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.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 opened in 1907. Froment du Léon cows participated in the Concours Général Agricole de Paris between 1914 and 1939. In 1950 the breed population was about 25 000, but fell rapidly thereafter due to competition from other dairy breeds, first the Normande and later the Friesian. In 1968 there were only 2500 head, and by 1977 no more than 50 cows remained. From about 1960 there was some limited cross-breeding with

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

stock from the United Kingdom and from Canada. A new breed society, the Syndicat d'Éleveurs Froment du Léon, was formed in 1981, and a recovery and conservation project was launched following the discovery in 1978 of a small number of surviving animals in the historic region of the Côtes-d'Armor. The Froment du Léon was listed by the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

as "endangered-maintained" in 2007. By 2010 there were 276 cows in 97 farms. In 2014 the total population was reported to be 314.

Characteristics

The coat of the Froment du Léon is wheat-coloured; there may be some white markings. The muzzle and

mucosa A mucous membrane or mucosa is a membrane that lines various cavities in the body of an organism and covers the surface of internal organs. It consists of one or more layers of epithelial cells overlying a layer of loose connective tissue. It ...

are pale. Cows weigh about and stand about at the

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

Use

The Froment du Léon is a dairy breed. Milk production is around in a lactation of 305 days. The milk is rich in beta-carotene, which gives it a yellow colour. It has a high fat content, almost 5.5%, which makes it particularly suitable for butter-making.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Froment du Leon Cattle breeds originating in France