Pyrenean cattle
The Pyrenean cattle or Pirenaica is a breed of cattle from the Pyrenees . It is actually a beef cattle breed and still finds a niche in this sector, although it has become increasingly rare over the past 150 years and is one of the dying breeds of domestic animals. The main distribution area is in Spain , especially in the autonomous communities of the Basque Country , Navarra , Cantabria , Aragon , Catalonia and occasionally in the provinces of Soria and Burgos and the regions of La Rioja and Extremadura . Another distribution area is southern France . It also found distribution in other areas such as Piedras Blancas in Chile .
The coat color of the Pyrenean cattle is yellow with color gradations on the inside of the thighs, on the udder surface and on the belly. The mucous membranes are unpigmented, the tail base is usually high. The Pyrenean cattle are medium-sized with a body mass between 550 and 600 kg. Characteristic are the mother-of-pearl-colored horns with yellowish tips, which in the bulls form a crescent moon, while in the cows they become even longer and sometimes assume a lyre shape.
The ancestors of the Pyrenean cattle were semi-wild Betizu cattle. The presence of the Pyrenean cattle can be traced back to the Neolithic. At the end of 1995 there were 26,511 animals. In 1905, the first herd book of this breed was founded in Donostia-San Sebastián . The introduction of the Parda Alpina breed brought the Pyrenean cattle to the brink of extinction, which is particularly illustrated by a study by the regional government of Navarre in the 1960s, according to which at that time only 40 animals were registered in the herdbook in Gipuzkoa and 1,500 in Navarra were. Since then, the number of animals has increased steadily, not least due to the introduction of a genetic-functional breeding value assessment in 1974, which was initiated jointly by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and the National Center for Selection and Animal Breeding Movera in Saragossa . The typical form of slaughter animal husbandry is migratory animal husbandry between mountains and valleys in the Atlantic climate of the Basque Country with its moderate temperatures, which allows the use of natural feed, produces the special meat quality with the desired formation of an increased proportion of fatty tissue and also contributes to the maintenance of the landscape and the preservation of the environment.
Today, Pyrenean beef is marketed together with the Limousin , Pardo-Alpina , Blonde and Terreña breeds under the protected Ternera de Navarra and Euskal Okela seals , the Basque quality seal , with Pirenaica dominating.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Publication of an amendment application according to Article 6 Paragraph 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 510/2006 of the Council on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and food: "Carne de Vacuno del País Vasco / Euskal Okela", EC No. : ES-PGI-0105-0175-18.07.2008
