The Norwegian Red or is a Norwegian breed of

dairy cattle Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred with the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species '' Bos taurus''. Historically, little distinction was ...

. It was formed in 1961 through successive mergers of various traditional and regional breeds. In 2016 it accounted for approximately 85% of the cattle in the country, and about 99% of the national dairy herd. The cattle may be either horned or naturally polled; despite the breed name, the coat may be either red-and-white or black-and-white.

History

The Norwegian Red is a modern composite breed. It was formed in 1961 by merging two existing Norwegian breeds, the Red Polled Eastland or and the Norwegian Red-and-White or . Each of these two was already a composite breed: the Red Polled Eastland was recorded from 1892 and later underwent cross-breeding with Swedish Red-and-White and

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

, with some influence from the Dutch Black Pied; the Norwegian Red-and-White, established in 1939, also derived from cross-breeding of Swedish Red-and-White and Ayrshire, but had absorbed the

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

and Red Troender. The Red Troender, in turn, derived from cross-breeding in the nineteenth century of local Troender and Røros cattle with Ayrshire stock; it had later absorbed the Målselv () breed of

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

and northern Norway. The Dølafe, originating from local cattle of south-east Norway,

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

() and Ayrshire, was merged into the Norwegian Red in 1963. It was followed in 1968 by the South and West Norwegian or , which had been created in 1947 by fusion of the Vestland Fjord (), the Vestland Red Polled () and the

Lyngdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Lister Region, Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alleen ...

(). The cattle have been exported to many countries, among them Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United States and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, where exports began in the 1960s, and where by 2003 there were over head.

Characteristics

The cattle may be either horned or naturally polled; despite the breed name, the coat may be either red-and-white or black-and-white. Average height 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 ...

is about for cows and about for bulls; average bodyweights are and respectively.

Use

The cattle are reared principally for milk. The average annual yield is per cow, with an average fat content of . Crossbreeding Norwegian red Ireland

The Norwegian Red has been used to improve some characteristics of other dairy breeds such as the Friesian.

References

Cattle breeds originating in Norway {{bots, deny=Citation bot Dairy cattle breeds