New Auerrind herd arranged

The Auerrind project has gained a new area for breeding and natural grazing, the reserve Hammer Auen in Groß-Rohrheim, Germany. Two heifers, namely Ambra the Watussi x Maremmana and the Sayaguesa x Grey cattle, have been moved to the area recently and another two individuals are about to follow. Here are some recent photos: 

Grey x Sayaguesa right and Watussi x Maremmana left (©Copyright www.auerrind.wordpress.com)

Watussi x Maremmana heifer in close-up (© www.auerrind.wordpress.com)

The Watussi crossbreeds are among the most interesting to me of the Auerrind project so far. I like the somehow tropical appearance of the fur of Ambra (short, shiny and contrast-rich colour). She seems to have a Watussi-like ribcage but the zebuine hump is only very weakly developed to almost invisible and the horns are probably going to be mighty. The colour is perfect (the distribution of the black pigment is slightly zebuine*, but that is nit-picking; it is very interesting to see that this allele(s) seemingly is dominant). I am curious on which bull is going to cover those cows. Thinking about what combination might lead to promising and strategically useful second generation animals, Sayaguesa might be an option. OK, Sayaguesa is always a good option for crosses as the breed has a lot of very useful traits and you can cross almost anything with Sayaguesa and get a more or less good-looking result. The two Sayaguesa bulls of the project are already in use however, so I am curious on what the two individuals that are going to join the heifers are going to be. 

* I noticed that the eumelanin distribution of zebuine breeds slightly differs from that of taurine breeds. In taurine breeds, the fur starts to get darker on the ventral side of the torso (except for the belly) and subsequently becomes darker from bottom to top except for the eel stripe; if that process stops, we see what we call the "colour saddle". In zebuine breeds, it is reverse, the dorsal side of the torso starts to get darker first and in the end a "colour window" becomes encapsulated on the lateral sides of the torso. Compare the colour saddle of a Steppe cattle bull with the lateral colour window of this zebu bull (this is also mentioned in my recent post on the Indian aurochs). You see the latter tendency in Ambra, at least on an older photo, which is not "negative" in any way but interesting. 

I think it is very enjoyable to see that the Auerrind project is gaining areas and expanding their herds that fast; it looks like they are getting enough areas for a lot of interesting crossbreeds quite quickly.