The video above shows the bull Azrael, which is currently the breeding bull at the Neandertal Heck cattle herd. The Neandertal herd was important for improving the quality of non-crossed Heck cattle in the 20th century, as they included a half-Watussi cow in the 1960s and used her 25% Watussi son as a breeding bull. This created good horns in the herd. The Neandertal Heck herd was also important for the Steinberg/Wörth lineage, as many of its founding individuals were from that herd. The Steinberg/Wörth lineage is the Heck lineage with the most aurochs-like horns among the breed, due to consequent selective breeding. Now (at least in 2020) the Neandertal herd has a breeding bull from the Steinberg/Wörth lineage, what is certainly useful for maintaining the good horns in the herd or even improving them. Azrael has large and thick horns, matching those of many aurochs skulls in dimensions.
This video shows a group of individuals of the Tauros cattle herd at Keent, the Netherlands. The bull is certainly part Maremmana, as the horns, diluted coat colour and large dewlap reveal. I like the body morphology of the bull, as the trunk is not too long and the body not too heavy. Also, the hump is large. If it had good horns and the right colour, it would make a good breeding bull. The sexual dichromatism seems to be completely absent in the herd, as the cows are dark while the bull has a saddle (the opposite of what should be the case). The individuals are called "Taurus cattle" in the video title, which is wrong as they are Tauros cattle. Those two names will be confused forever, and many even think Taurus and Tauros cattle are one and the same because the names are so similar. I wonder why the TaurOs Programme picked a name that is so similar to an already existing project/breed.
Man, Azrael has turned into quite a beast!
ReplyDeleteHey Daniel Foidl will you visit the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo . That museum is interesting.
ReplyDeleteHey Daniel,
ReplyDeleteI made my first trip to the Neandertal herd in late February this year. Azrael was still breeding bull as of then. I had seen pictures and video of him before the visit. Still, I was surprised that I couldn't make him out immediatly. He really isn't that big of a boy and at a distance gets easily lost between the other animals.
Nonetheless he is a beautiful animal and his horns are indeed impressive. In June I also visited the Lippe-Aue (Klostermersch Süd to be specific) for the first time and learned that you had been there just the day before. Given that it was your blog that originally stoked my interest in "breeding back" the aurochs, I was happy to hear (or at least reasonably inferr), that I could look forward to another trip report. I always love to read your herd analyses. Thanks for all the work you put into this blog. It's a great ressource.
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