Charolais cattle

History

The Charolais is a traditional breed of the historic Charolais region, the area round the town of Charolles in the Saône-et-Loire département of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France – for which it is named. Its range also extended into the Nivernais to the north-west.

The Charolais is the second-most numerous cattle breed in France after the Prim'Holstein, and is the most common beef breed in that country, ahead of the Limousin. At the end of 2014, France had head of Charolais, including cows, down 0.6% from a year earlier.

It is a world breed, reported to DAD-IS by 68 countries, of which 37 report population data. The world population is estimated at . The largest populations are reported from the Czech Republic and Mexico. The breed was introduced to the southern United States from Mexico in 1934.

In 2011, Charolais-Brionnais Country applied to UNESCO to be labelled as a World Heritage Site, citing among other things a "cultural landscape" for raising cattle. The application was not successful.

Characteristics

The Charolais is among the heaviest of cattle breeds: bulls weigh from 1000 to, and cows from 700 to. The coat ranges from white to cream-coloured; the nose is uniformly pink.

The Charbray, a cross-breed with Brahman cattle, is recognised as a breed in some countries. The Brazilian Canchim is a composite breed with 5/8 Charolais and 3/8 Indu-Brasil. Other derived breeds include Charford and Char-Swiss in the United States. Taureau Charolais (Château-Chinon, Morvan).jpg|Bull in the Morvan Charolais cattle, Sierra Nevada, Venezuela.jpg|Feral bull in Sierra Nevada de Mérida, Venezuela Bourgogne-charolais-cattle.jpg|Cows at pasture in Burgundy File:Embryo transfered calves (cropped).JPG|Embryo-transferred calves with their Aberdeen Angus and Hereford recipient dams

Notes

References

References

1. "Notre candidature - Pays Charolais-brionnais".
2. "Histoire du Charolais - La Maison du Charolais".
3. [s.n.] (April 2015). [https://web.archive.org/web/20151210034332/https://agreste.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/conjinforap201504bvfr.pdf Infos rapides Bovins: Hausse du cheptel bovin français en 2014] (in French). ''Agreste: la statistique agricole''. Ministère de l'Agriculture, de l’Agroalimentaire et de la Forêt: Secrétariat Général. Archived 10 December 2015.
4. [http://www.charolaisusa.com/history.html The Charolais heritage ... a brief history] {{webarchive. link. (19 April 2014 . American-International Charolais Association. Accessed May 2015.)
5. Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20200623201209/http://www.fao.org/3/a1250e/annexes/List%20of%20breeds%20documented%20in%20the%20Global%20Databank%20for%20Animal%20Genetic%20Resources/List_breeds.pdf List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources], annex to: [https://web.archive.org/web/20170110125634/http://www.fao.org/3/a-a1250e.pdf ''The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture'']. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. {{isbn. 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
6. Hilton Marshall Briggs, Dinus M Briggs (1980). [https://archive.org/details/modernbreedsofli0000brig ''Modern Breeds of Livestock''], fourth edition. New York: Macmillan. {{isbn. 9780023147302.
7. 9781780647944.
8. [http://dad.fao.org/cgi-bin/EfabisWeb.cgi?sid=0b9877c00bb2c23e9ddce9ce38b91211,reportsreport16_50000097 Transboundary breed: Charolais]. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed May 2015.
9. [http://dad.fao.org/cgi-bin/EfabisWeb.cgi?sid=0b9877c00bb2c23e9ddce9ce38b91211,reportsreport16_50000096 Transboundary breed: Charbray]. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed May 2015.
10. [http://www.fao.org/dad-is/browse-by-country-and-species/en/ Breed data sheet: Canchim / Brazil (Cattle)]. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed September 2019.
11. [http://www.fao.org/dad-is/browse-by-country-and-species/en/ Charolaise / France (Cattle)]. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed April 2020.