sutton026

A ll animals change during individual development (ontogeny), and this process of changing continues until death. For “breeding-back”, it is important to look at how a bull or cow might change during its life as it is relevant for selection. Usually, it is impossible to judge an the bull or cow properly before the age of 3 years. The bodily proportions and shape are still going to change considerably, and the horns are not nearly developed enough. Usually, all calves are rather long-legged animals, proportioned like deer. During its life, the legs always get shorter and the trunk longer. Also, the trunk gets heavier. A bull usually does not have its full bulk until the age of 6 years (Frisch, 2010), and bulk continues increasing. So if a young bull at the age of 3 years already is proportioned and shaped like an aurochs, you can assume that it will end up heavier and more longish at reproductive age. Also, the hump is a trait that increases with age. A bull that shows no hump at the ag...

A while ago, I did a blog post “ I am not so optimistic anymore ” on the Tauros Project. By “not so optimistic” I meant that initially I thought/hoped the Tauros Project would surpass other breeding-back attempts with ease in a short time. Later on, having seen more animals of the project and an increased knowledge on genetics and animal breeding, my initial enthusiasm was replaced by a more deflated opinion. That is not to say that I turned to being pessimistic, not at all. Now, having two years passed, I want to give a second opinion and prognosis for the project. My opinion is based solely on the scarce information that can be found on the web, and photo material of the herds. The project has expanded nicely all over Europe, and has dozens of crossbred animals already. Some of them look really nice, and also the purebred founding individuals look good overall, although not always as tall and slender as I hoped. Of course they are not perfect yet, but they are of their first and sec...

I have some material prepared for several posts, just not the time yet to finish them. Therefore, I ask for patience – more is to come soon. In the meantime, a more “philosophical” post.     Some animals do have some sort of charisma. Dinosaurs are charismatic, for example – there are millions of dinosaur fans on this world, and some of them have made it their profession. Big cats also capture the fascination of people, otherwise they would not be the focus of wallpapers or there would be no cars or weapons named after them. The aurochs has a kind of charisma too. There have been scientists, artists and cattle breeders obsessed with this animal, and there are still dozens, probably hundred or perhaps even thousands of people that are interested in this bovine, many of them in a very passionate way (and there is reason to believe that the numbers are rising). So what makes this animal that fascinating? Magnificent beast or ordinary cattle? If the aurochs was not extinct, we wo...

I already did a similar post in 2016 . It was on old or removed Taurus cattle from the Lippeaue herd in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. I used a photo archive and stock list I was provided during my last visit in 2015 to pick out interesting individuals and presented them in the blog post. I covered the herd a lot already, but I found some more interesting individuals that I do not want to keep from you. These cross products can be interesting in a number of ways: either due to their breed combination, what they tell us about their parents or simply because of their looks. I hope you enjoy. All photos are curtesy of Matthias Scharf from the ABU, so please do not replicate without permission.      84 025 This nameless bull was the son of Luca (Heck x Chianina) and Loxia (Luca x Sayaguesa). He looked a bit like a black version of his father-grandfather. His correct colour made him very beautiful to look at, although the other traits were not that convincing to me. He is...