Maremma beef

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Maremman bull
Maremmana bull with a clear steppe cattle influence, but a curved back line and large horns.
Maremma cow

The Maremman cattle is an original domestic breed of cattle that is reared in the Maremma grass steppes in southern Tuscany and northern Lazio , along the coastal strip of the province of Grosseto and the province of Viterbo . Original lines of the Maremmana (see below, Maremmana primitivo ) show some characteristics of the extinct aurochs , the wild form of domestic cattle.

The cattle were particularly suitable for rearing in the areas previously contaminated with malaria . Since the cattle feed on wild grass, their meat is particularly tasty. Genetically the cattle are related to the Hungarian steppe cattle of the Hungarian Puszta .

The particularly long-horned animals, whose horns can reach up to 100 cm in length, have a graying coat.

On December 31, 2007, the population of the Maremman domestic cattle breed was 8,911 animals.

Maremmana primitivo

Maremmana primitivo bull in the Netherlands.

Some Maremmana breeding lines combine more aurochs characteristics than others. The particularly original are summarized as "Maremmana primitivo" ( primitivo means original in Italian ).

These have less influence on the steppe cattle. So the horns are much thicker, but curved upwards. The color of the bulls is very dark to black with a white eel line , while the cows are light gray to white. Maremmana primitivo therefore mostly still have the color dimorphism of the aurochs, even if their coat color is much greyish. Both sexes have the brightly rimmed muzzle of the aurochs and curly forehead hair. These are long-legged and tall cattle, the bulls reach up to 170 cm shoulder height. Furthermore, the bulls have a curved back line, which is created by the well-developed shoulder and neck muscles. This aurochs trait is pronounced in only a few cattle breeds, such as the Spanish fighting cattle or Sayaguesa .

Due to their originality, Maremmana primitivos are used in the Tauros program , which aims to achieve a cattle that is phenotypically , ecologically and genotypically as close as possible to the aurochs through crossbreeding and selection breeding with original, auroch-like breeds such as this one, Pajuna , Sayaguesa , Tudanca and others comes.

See also

Web links

Commons : Maremma Cattle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article about the Maremman cattle (Italian)
  2. ↑ Henri Kerkidjk, Ronald Goderië: Heck round, Hooglander, Galloway of Taurus? De begrazing van de toekomstige Ecologische Hoofdstructuur. In: Nieuwe Wildernis. Vol. 14, No. 50, 2009, ISSN  1383-2115 , pp. 17-22.
  3. ^ Stichting Taurus