Taurus cattle
The Taurus cattle is the further breeding of the Heck cattle by crossing predominantly southern European breeds with the aim of ensuring a stronger resemblance to the extinct aurochs . The Taurus cattle is thus an image breed and is mainly bred in Germany , Denmark and Eastern Hungary and used for nature conservation purposes.
History and breeding sites
In 1996, the Working Group on Biological Environmental Protection (ABU) in North Rhine-Westphalia began to cross Heck cattle with old and original cattle breeds. The impetus for this was that the Heck cattle (which emerged from an image breeding experiment) is found by many to be too few aurochs-like. For example, it is written: “ The 'back-breeds' of the Heck brothers are too small, too short-legged, not elegant enough, and the horn shape leaves a lot to be desired ”. The aim of breeding is therefore a significantly larger, longer-legged cattle with horns curved forward in addition to the already existing wild color. The name Taurus cattle was chosen for this new crossbreeding .
The Taurus cattle are bred from locations of the ABU, the nature conservation association of Germany (especially in North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia and Lower Saxony ), in Denmark and in the Hortobágyi National Park in Hungary.
Germany
In Germany, in addition to Heck cattle, the breeds Chianina , Sayaguesa and Lidia ( Spanish fighting cattle ) are used for crossbreeding. The most important location in Germany is the Lippeaue nature reserve (SO-007) , where crossbreeding also started.
Various combinations of the four breeds used already exist and the youngest animals born in 2015 are from the fifth generation. In the Lippe floodplain, Sayaguesa is the dominant breed among crossbred animals with 47%, followed by Heck cattle (29%), Chianina (20%) and Lidia (4%).
Taurus cattle are listed in the stud book X of the Heck cattle breeding association VFA. Meanwhile, some Heck cattle breeders are interested in these crossbred specimens, so that there is a smooth transition between Taurus and Heck cattle.
An escaped combat cattle caused a stir in 1997, which roamed freely in North Rhine-Westphalia for seven months until it was shot.
Hortobágyi
The Hortobágyi National Park has the largest herd of Taurus cattle to date of around 200 animals. In addition to crossbreed animals from Germany, Watussi cattle , formerly also Hungarian steppe cattle and a crossbreed cow with Holstein cattle influence are used there. Two herds were formed there, one in Pentezug and the other in Karácsonyfok . The studies in the national park have shown that cattle are less well adapted to dry, barren grassland in cold temperatures than Przewalski horses ; Without additional feeding, the cattle would probably only have survived in the first few years. However, the cattle already spent the winter of 2010/2011 without additional feeding.
Appearance
Taurus cattle are predominantly slim and long-legged cattle. It was possible to raise the shoulder height from just 140 cm at the withers in average Heck bulls to around 160–165 cm and a weight of 1400 kg for individual Taurus bulls, which is already close to the dimensions of the aurochs. The color of the bulls is mostly black with a light eel line , a lighter saddle on the back can appear. The cows are often, but not always, lighter than the bulls and are predominantly reddish-brown in color. Greyish, beige or black colored cows can appear. The horns of the Taurus cattle are usually clearly curved forward and more inward than in common rear cattle. However, the exact curvature and also the horn size is variable. The skull structure of the Taurus cattle is more elongated than that of the Heck cattle and thus resembles that of the aurochs. Taurus cattle also usually have a more athletic shape and often have pronounced shoulder and neck muscles.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b ABU info 06/07: Bunzel-Drüke, Scharf & Vierhaus: Lydia's end - a tragic comedy .
- ↑ a b c Bunzel-Drüke, Finck, Kämmer, Luick, Reisinger, Riecken, Riedl, Scharf & Zimball: "Wild pastures: Practical guidelines for year-round grazing in nature conservation and landscape development .
- ↑ Cis van Vuure: History, Morphology and Ecology of the aurochs (Bos primigenius). 2002.
- ^ Waltraut Zimmermann: Przewalski horses on the way to reintroduction - different projects in comparison . 2005.
- ↑ a b Julia Poettinger: Comparative study on the keeping and behavior of the bison and the Heck cattle . 2011.
- ^ Margret Bunzel Drüke: En økologisk erstatning for uroksen . 2004.
- ↑ International stud book for Heck cattle.
- ↑ Walter Frisch: The aurochs - The European cattle. 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-026764-2 .
- ↑ a b Waltraut Zimmermann, Lydia Kolter, Istvan Sandor: Hortobagy Nature Conservation Project - Annual Report 2003 . Journal of the Cologne Zoo 2004.
- ↑ Waltraut Zimmermann, Lydia Kolter, Istvan Sandor: Nature Conservation Project Hortobagy - Annual Report 2011 . Magazine of the Cologne Zoo 2012.
