Wednesday, 9 April 2014

Boskarin cattle arrived in Velebit, Croatia

A herd of Boskarin cattle, also known as the Istrian Ox, are now officially part of the Tauros Project. They are steppe-type cattle and descend from a mix of Podolica, Maremmana, Romagnola, Chianina and others. They resemble Maremmana pretty much and are a more or less large breed. The Domestic Animal Diversity Information System says that bulls reach about 150 cm and cows 140 cm on average, which is not impressing, but larger bulls reach 170 cm, and some of the cattle do look large on photos on google. 

Recently a herd of this breed arrived in the Velebit, Croatia, one of Rewilding Europe's five core regions, see here and here. Among the 13 animals, ten of which are cows/heifers, there is one young bull. The cattle look ok, but they are seemingly not very large or long-legged and their horns are not impressing, there are some more useful individuals on google pictures in my view. I would be curious on how large the bull is going to grow. The news reports on rewildingeurope.com do not give information on which breeds they will be crossed with, I hope that we find out soon. 
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4 comments:

  1. Aldrovando11 April 2014 at 03:46

    Hi, I know that is not the right place for this comment but I didn't find and address for contact you.
    The week of Easter II'm going in Munich and I really want to see, as you described, the best Heck cattle on Wörth island.
    It will be my first time hecj Heck..
    Is possible go on that island with some services or you went there through the herd owner?

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    1. Daniel Foidl11 April 2014 at 09:51

      Hi, I met with the owner and breeder, Walter and his son Gregor Frisch, which was very enjoyable. But of course you can visit the herd for yourself; there are paddleboats at the lake which you can use to reach the island. The cattle live on a large pasture that is visible from the bank, technically you shouldn't miss them.

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    2. Aldrovando28 April 2014 at 08:04

      Thank you so much for the suggestions. I went there Thursday and it was SOOOOOOO cool.
      I just watch them from 5 meters because I don't know how is the behaviour and was lil
      bit scared, especially when 2 bulls fight for a second.
      Without your blog I wasn't be able of know about them. Thank you so much.

      Make a Facebook page! ;-)

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    3. Daniel Foidl28 April 2014 at 09:10

      Thank you a lot for your positive feedback!

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