Status report of the Auerrind project January 2018

Claus Kropp has just published a status report for the Auerrind project for January 2018 on auerrind.wordpress.com. I am going to give a quick summary in English here. 

Lorsch 

A Watussi cow had to be slaughtered because of an injury, and the Chianina-Watussi herd has been dissolved for now, preliminary. It is unclear whether they want to continue using Watussi in the project because they showed to not be very robust (the same has been reported by Istvan Santor from Hortobagy, where pure Watussi are used for Taurus cattle). 
The beautiful Sayaguesa bull Leo has successfully inseminated the three Chianina cows which are pregnant now; this means that three more Sayaguesa x Chianina will be born this year, which I am looking forward to very much. 
The Chianina cow Lola from the Lippeaue has been purchased and arrived in Lorsch in Dezember. She is pregnant from a Taurus bull. 

Einhausen

Three more Sayaguesa x Hungarian Grey calves have been born; all of them male, one dead and two healthy. There is one heifer of this combination already, so in a few years we are able to see the first F2 of this combination. 

Bielefeld 

The three Sayaguesa cows are hoped to be pregnant from the Chianina bull Bruno and might calve this year. This means that in a few years, plenty of F2 of this combination are possible, some of which might be of very good quality. 

Schwarzach 

The Sayaguesa bull Takkie and the three Maremmana cows are about to be transported to the new breeding location. 

Groß-Rohrrheim 

A new grazing area is about to be created. It is not clear yet whether they want to move one of the existing breeding groups there or set up a completely new one. 


Conference "The aurochs - breeding-back and natural grazing for a wilder future?" 

The aurochs conference has been held on Saturday the 27.1.2018 and it was fruitful. Representatives of the three major aurochs projects (Taurus, Tauros and Auerrind) discussed at one table for the first time and are optimistic for the future. 
Further information on the conference is going to be published. 

A 3D-printed model of an aurochs bull was presented. I think it is very anatomically correct, except that looking at skeletons of adult aurochs bulls the feet and ribcage of the model might be a bit too slim for a grown aurochs bull. I do see some similarities with my aurochs bull model (see here), and I remember that I was asked per mail about a year ago about the possibility to 3D-copy it to make a small maquette. 


© Auerrindprojekt

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