The Aubrac or Laguiole is a French

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk (production)). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf opera ...

. It originates on the Plateau de l'Aubrac in the Massif Central in central southern France, from which it also takes its name. It has a wheat-coloured coat and dark hooves, switch, muzzle and eyes.

History

The Aubrac is a traditional breed of the Plateau de l'Aubrac in the Massif Central, which spans the modern

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

s of the

Aveyron Aveyron (; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron (river), Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyro ...

, the

Cantal Cantal (; or ) is a rural Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour, Cantal, Saint-Flou ...

and the

Lozère Lozère (; ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the ...

, in the

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

and Occitanie. In the twenty-first century almost 90% of the breed population is concentrated in that area. A

herd-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry, the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders wh ...

was started in 1893. Some limited

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

took place in the twentieth century: with the Mézenc, now extinct, between 1935 and 1945; with the Maraîchine between 1945 and 1955; and with the Parthenaise between 1955 and 1975. The

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

of the Aubrac is 'not at risk'. In 2014 the population in France was reported at about head; for 2021 it was over . The cattle have been exported to a number of countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas; substantial numbers are reported by Ireland and Lithuania.

Characteristics

The Aubrac is robust, frugal, fertile and long-lived, and is well adapted to the mountain environment of the Massif Central. It is reported to be resistant to

trypanosomiasis Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus ''Trypanosoma''. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other disea ...

, the "sleeping-sickness" transmitted by tsetse flies. It has a uniformly wheaten coat, ranging from a pale greyish white to a light brown tinged with orange-yellow. The skin, hooves, muzzle, tongue, switch and natural openings are all black; there is a pale ring round the muzzle. Bulls may carry darker markings to the coat. The horns are lyre-shaped and tipped with black. Bulls stand about at the

withers Withers are the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, this ridge is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, catt ...

and weigh some ; cows stand some and weigh about .

Use

The Aubrac was formerly reared as a draught and dairy animal, but is now raised principally for beef. Under certain conditions this can be marketed as Fin Gras du Mézenc. Bullocks weigh about when

weaned Weaning is the process of gradually introducing an infant human or other mammal to what will be its adult diet while withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk. In the UK, weaning primarily refers to the introduction of solid foods at 6 mont ...

. Some of the cows are of dairy type, and are milked; they will only give milk if their calf is with them. Some of the milk is used in the production of

Laguiole Laguiole (; ''La Guiòla'' in Languedocien) is a commune in the southern French department of Aveyron. It is known for its Laguiole cheese, which has an ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (label of guaranteed origin), and as the birthp ...

cheese; it is hoped that this proportion may reach 10%.

References

Cattle breeds originating in France {{bots, deny=Citation bot