New photos from the Auerrind project
Claus Kropp recently sent me interesting photos of some of the Auerrind crosses, which I am going to present today.
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| © Claus Kropp |
This is the Chianina x Watussi cow born in 2019. Her horns are developing well. She will be covered in 2021. Here is another photo of her, next to a Sayaguesa x Chianina cow:
In sum, there are three Chianina x Watussi cows, two calves have been born this year:
I wonder what would be the ideal combination to cross them with. Claus Kropp told me one option is the Sayaguesa x Maremmana bull. There are also Sayaguesa x Maremmana cow calves, one of them down below:
It apparently inherited the colour of a Sayaguesa cow. Here is a new photo of the Maremmana x Watussi bull:
There is no plan yet as to which combination it could be crossed with.
More Sayaguesa x Chianina calves have been born:
The cow Maxima on the upper photo has a very good and useful horn curvature. The cow in the back at the lower photo with the asymmetric horns (I think it is La Nova) is interesting as well; the question is which horn shape gets passed on. If she passes on the horn shape of her left horn it would be perfect.
It is very exciting to see those interesting combinations growing up and I am looking forward to the second-generation animals they will produce. The second generation is also where the selection starts. Since both Leo the Sayaguesa bull and Luca the Maremmana bull are about 170cm tall, many Auerrind crosses might end up being on the larger side.
Did you hear about lesser aurochs (bos taurus brachyceros)? I can't find much info about it. Only information about it is that it used to be some subspecies of form of aurochs living in eastern Europe and polish red cattle are direct descendant of it.
ReplyDeleteThe answer to the question of what to cover the watusi x chaining cows with is 100% sayaguesa bull. The reason for that is because sayaguesa is the closest to the original agrochemicals. All sayaguesa needs is greater size overall(mainly height) and greater horn size. With 50% sayaguesa and 25% watusi(horn size) and 25% chianina(height)and a lot of luck,those 3 breeds could produce a very satisfactory agrochemicals look alike.
ReplyDeleteJim Pierce
I agree with you.
DeleteDaniel,
DeleteI was pleasantly pleased to hear of your agreement. Because of your apparent closeness to the project, perhaps you can explain why the Maremmana breed is being utilized in this situation. It doesn't seem to add to the three breeds (sayaguesa,chianina,and watusi) already being utilized. In fact it has several negatives that in my opinion will only delay the reaching of the ultimate goal of a satisfactory auroch look alike. Jim Pierce
i know maremmana is chosen for it's size, large horns and it's overal genetic en pehnotypical aurochs like closeness. however they don't have much uniques in comparison to the other breeds. i know the tauros project uses them since they don't use chianina. but the maremmana would indeed not bring something unique to the population. but i still understand why they use it since it's still a valueble aurochs like breed that enlarges the population and brings genetic diversity in the gene pool while remaining an aurochs like gene pool. you must realize most aurochs like cattle are rare and therefore it's sometimes good to choose less needed breeds as well. that's why the tauros project uses so much highland cattle. highland cattle is an aurochs like breed although way less than the others. it does actually bring a couple of good traits and even some unique or rare good traits that are avlueble but to many people it seems of that they use them so much but it's clear that they need to create a big aurochs like population for their succes. this can't be done with the main breeds alone. that's why they use highland cattle. with highland cattle they can make big aurochs like population with good traits and big geneitc diversity from which they can start breeding their aurochs. this is why the aurochs has been so succesfull in quantity
DeleteMaremmana has a good size and bodyshape, large horns, good sexual dimorphism and the bulls have compared with other breeds large humps. So i think it is a good choice to work with in back breeding.
DeleteMaremmana is a wonderful breed but it has a major drawback. It's beautiful large horns are upright and not curved and forward facing. So you could use maremmana or watusi to improve the size of sayaguesa's horns but not both otherwise upright may dominate. Between the two maremmana or watusi, I think watusi is by far the largest horn size and thus the better choice between the two. Both watusi and maremmana have many positive and negative characteristics. But those two breeds main purpose is to add horn size and again watusi wins that battle. Jim Pierce
DeleteIn the aspect of hornsize yes. But over all? Watussi has smal, bulky bodyshaps, mostly higher hips than shoulders, no winterfur, also mostly upright pointing horns, just a small sexual dimorphism ... I think there are definitiv more negativ traits in Watussi than in Maremmana.
DeleteAgrochemicals should be auroch. Jim Pierce
ReplyDeletehello, i would love for you to make a blog about the Highland cattlle from the veluwezoom/deelerwoud. this is a highland population that lives in two reserves on the veluwe connected with an ecoduct. the owners of the reserves is the natuurmonumenten association. this highland population is amongst the first reintroduced highland populations in western europe. they live in an area of over 50km2 this makes them wild by law (their official status is almost wild but the law treats them as wild since there is only wild or domesticated in the dutch law) this makes this Highland cattle the only wild cattle population together with the oostvaardersplassen heckcattle in the Netherlands. this Highland cattle population has had decades of natural selection this is shown in their unique phenotype: they have shorter hair and their summer coat is almost as short as many iberian breeds exept in the neck which has a thicker fur. the horns are pointed aurochs like in almost all individuals i saw. they point forward/inwards they are way more athletic than most other highland cattle which is easily visible in both their behavior and body. i think this population is mentioning worthy as a good highland population. especially since many other herds in the Netherlands are slowly evolving to that standard. these might be the highland cattle phenotype of the future in western Europe.
ReplyDeletecan you writte about gaur cattle hybrids?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Photos
ReplyDeletehttps://www.oxovisuals.com/Maashorst-Collection-Cows
Some photos:
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/auerrind/status/1313950804315955205/photo/1
https://twitter.com/auerrind/status/1313950804315955205/photo/2
https://twitter.com/auerrind/status/1313950804315955205/photo/3
https://twitter.com/auerrind/status/1313950804315955205/photo/4
Daniel, what's you're email, email me if you want to know more about dinos and evolution cheetalynx@gmail.com
ReplyDelete