sutton026

T he Naturpark Solling-Vogler in Lower Saxony, Germany, is a large nature park in Germany which uses Heck cattle and Exmoor ponies for extensive grazing on open areas and in the forest for conservational reasons. The nature park has a rich biodiversity and very beautiful landscape (I haven't visited it in person yet).  © naturpark-solling-vogler.de I came to know this park through this nice NDR documentary . The herd there was already influenced by Taurus crossbreeds, visible in a number of individuals. Some cows, for example, show a body shape and "fighting spirit" reminiscent of Lidia and are probably crossbred with this breed. The old breeding bull, see here , is an obvious crossbreed too - based on its looks, I guess that it is one quarter or one eighth Chianina, the rest Heck.  According to the ABU News , two bulls have been purchased from the Lippeaue and been moved into the reserve recently in order to improve the authenticity of the Heck herd there. I am always ha...

S ometimes, photos of living cattle inspire me to do aurochs drawings, often based on some anatomical details, such as when the body shape or skull shape is exactly like I would imagine it for an aurochs. In the case of the photo of this Eringer bull , it was the coat that inspired me. Not its colour, which is probably alright (I assume that the dorsal stripe is not visible in this position), but the curly hair on its face, forehead, neck and shoulders. While historic account confirm the presence of curly hair only on the forehead, I believe that more extensive curly hair could have been a trait for at least some European aurochs bulls. For details, go here: Forelocks and manes .  So I decided to to a standard aurochs bull in the same position as the Eringer bull with the same kind of coat. My bull is roughly based on my recent reconstructions of the Braunschweig and Sassenberg bulls, and also has pretty much standard horns.  I say that like in the Eringer bull, a narrow eel ...

I n the two previous posts, I outlined why it might be advantageous to introduce some useful but not currently used breeds into the “breeding-back” population as a whole. Those breeds would have genetic, morphologic and ecologic benefits and in the first post , I introduced a selection of European and European-descending breeds and in the previous one , the Turano-Mongolian cattle group. I also mentioned that we should get us an overview over the landraces in the Near and Middle East before they disappear. I presented a long list and it is by far not complete. However, for those who wonder what I breeds I would choose to work with, I decided to write an extra post. Of course, single breeds that have the right combination of traits could be bred into existing projects just to increase genetic diversity. But to me, it would be fun to think of a project that starts completely from a new with these breeds, and to gain a maximum of genetic diversity from within this set. I would acquire cow...

I n the previous post, I outlined that the genetic basis of the “breeding-back” population as a whole, when adding up all projects, might not be that broad considering that many of the projects use the same breeds and also from the same herds. Therefore, I introduced a number of breeds that have not been used in “breeding-back” before but might be of similar value as the breeds currently used. In the previous post, I focused on breeds from Europe. But to gain much more genetic diversity and also some very advantageous phenotypic traits, I am going to look at another cattle group in this post: Turano-Mongolian cattle. Turano-Mongolian cattle First of all, many might wonder what are Turano-Mongolian cattle. They are a genetically distinct group of taurine cattle 1 , once even considered to have been domesticated independently (which is debunked now, all taurine cattle seem to have originated in the Near East 2 ). They are to be found in Asia and have also been slightly influenced by othe...

Y esterday, the Auerrind project announced that their first Watussi x Sayaguesa calf has been born - it is a male and son of Thando and Agnes.  ©auerrind.wordpress.com I am very happy to read that, especially that it is a bull calf - it will surely be an impressive sight when fully grown. I am very much looking forward to see what it is going to look like - the colour, body shape, size and curvature of the horns.  I think that a combination like 75% Sayaguesa and 25% Watussi or a good F2 of both breeds might resemble the aurochs quite satisfyingly. Just imagine Sayaguesa with large, thick horns - it might be comparably close to the goal already; not perfect immediately, of course.  Taking such individuals (either 75% Sayaguesa 25% Watussi or good F2) and crossing them large, well-built F2 Sayaguesa x Chianina has the potential to result in quite superior animals in my opinion.  Thus, I am also happy to read that the beautiful Chianina bull Bruno has been moved to Bi...

G enetic diversity is an essential trait a population must have for being fit to be released into the wilderness. A genetically diverse population has a higher chance for adapting against diseases, predators and other obstacles of living in the wild and also enables a higher speed of adaption (Fisher’s fundamental theorem). So it is not only important to breed aurochs-like cattle for aurochs-like traits and ecological suitability, but also to keep the population(s) genetically diverse at the same time. Now that we have a couple of breeding-back projects and breeds (Taurus cattle and good Heck cattle, the Tauros Project, the Uruz Project*, the Auerrind Project), how broad is the genetic basis? Sayaguesa is a breed that is used in four of these breeds/projects (Taurus, Tauros, Auerrind and probably Uruz), and at least three of them got their current individuals from the same herd in the Netherlands (owned by Peter van Geneijgen). Taurus and Auerrind both use Chianina, and got their anima...