Friday 19 January 2024

Magnificent young Auerrind bulls

Recently, Felix Hohmeyer posted photos of young bulls from the Auerrind herd near Bielefeld on Facebook: 
© Felix Hohmeyer
© Felix Hohmeyer
The upper one is a son of Apollo (Maremmana x Watussi) and a Sayaguesa cow, the bottom one is the (Sayaguesa x Grey) x (Sayaguesa x Watussi). I have to say I am very happy with those bulls, they look great. They were born in 2022, so they are still young, but their morphology, colour and horns look very promising. The cow in the background of the bottom photo seems to be part Chianina, I would say the ideal mating partner for those bulls. I think the Auerrind project is progressing extremely well and I am very much looking forward to seeing those animals fully grown and their future offspring. 

4 comments:

  1. Hey Daniel,
    The bull's trunk in the first picture still seems nice and short, reminding me very much of Apollo's sister Ambra. He'll probably grow somewhat more elongate in the future though. I'm very interested to see how he developes. Another trait he seems to share with Ambra are high hindquarters. That is something I seem to see (or realize I'm seeing) more often now. A Taurus example would be 47 938, the breeding bull from Hellinghauser Mersch. I don't think, I've ever seen that in Heck cattle and the VFA does not mention it as a unwanted trait, if I'm not wrong. Any anatomical insights?

    I think there has been a mistake with the identification of the second bull though. The Lauresham account postet a portrait of Edgar (Doros full brother) here: https://imginn.com/p/C162xCYrutE/
    It's the same animal from the same series of shots.

    Thanks for sharing,
    Yannick

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for pointing out the identity of the second bull, I corrected it. Regarding the high hindquarters, I am not sure; the way I see it, it could either be caused by the hindquarters being longer or by the knee joint being more stretched than in other individuals. I don't know if this trait is deleterious in any way, but I am rather certain that it is not a wildtype trait, in the aurochs the hips were most likely not higher than the shoulder blade.

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  2. Hi, I am not sure were to post this, but I have found a photo of quote aurochs-like cattles. They are from Cerro Azul, in the Galapagos, and I do not know much on them, but is indisputable that they have been introduced here by the
    Spanish. They are completely feral and are actually exposed to predators (wild or feral dogs), which would be useful in breeding-back. Overall, very valuable, probably the only breed that is completely feral and aurochs-like at once.

    https://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo-bos-taurus-nature-image00140390.html

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  3. I found another image. This bull looks comparatively worse than the one in the first image, the horns are not great, but the colour seems good and the feral nature is of course quite useful.

    https://www.naturepl.com/stock-photo/feral-domestic-cattle-puerto-fragata-isabela-island-galapagos/search/detail-0_01651509.html

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