Charolais cow breed: description

The French meat cattle breed was bred in the Charolais region, which is part of modern Burgundy. According to the place of origin, the cattle was called “Charolais”. Where white cattle came from in those places is not known for certain. Mentions of white bulls have been found since the XNUMXth century. At that time, charolais were used exclusively as draft animals. In the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, Charolais cattle were already gaining recognition in the French markets. At that time, charolais was used for meat and milk production, as well as draft animals. As a result of such universal selection in several directions, large animals were obtained from charolais.

Initially, Charolais were bred only in their “native” area, but after the French Revolution, the farmer and cattle breeder Claude Mathieu moved from Charolais to Nièvre, taking with him a herd of white cattle. In the department of Nièvre, cattle became so popular that they almost changed their name from Charolais to Nieuwmas.

In the middle of the 1919th century, there were two large herds belonging to different livestock organizations. In XNUMX, these organizations merged into one, creating a single stud book.

Since the task was not only to get meat and milk, but also to use bulls in the yoke, the largest animals were selected for the tribe. French beef cattle are generally larger than English beef cattle of the same direction. After the start of industrialization, the need for bulls as draft animals disappeared. The breed was reoriented to the production of meat and milk. For accelerated weight gain, Charolais cattle were crossed with English shorthorns.

Description of the Charolais breed

The height of the Charolais cow is 155 cm. The bulls can grow up to 165 cm. The oblique length in bulls is 220 cm and in cows 195 cm. The girth of the chest of the bull is 200 cm.

The head is relatively small, short, with a wide forehead, flat or slightly concave, straight bridge of nose, narrow and short face, round, white, elongated horns, thin medium ears with small hairs, large and prominent eyes, broad cheeks with strong muscles.

The neck is short and thick, with a pronounced crest. The withers stand out well. The main thing is not to confuse it with a highly developed muscle in the neck. The chest is wide and deep. The dewlap is well developed. The back and loin are long and straight. The croup is long and straight. The bull has a slightly raised tail. The legs are short, widely set, very powerful.

Charolais cows are more graceful and resemble dairy breeds in addition. Most likely, such an addition is a reminder of the universality of the breed in the past. A raised sacrum protrudes from the “milky” exterior. The udder of Charolais cows is small, regular in shape, with well-developed lobes.

The presence of horns can create serious problems in the herd when sorting out relationships. In addition, horns often grow incorrectly, threatening to stick into the eye or skull bone.

The “classic” Charolais color is creamy white. But today Charolais with red and black colors have already appeared, since the Charolais breed is often crossed with Aberdeen Angus and Herefords.

Productive characteristics of the breed

Weight of adult cows 900 kg, bulls 1100, slaughter yield up to 65%. Calves are born very large, on average 50 kg. Cattle put on weight quickly.

Charolais cattle are able to gain weight even just on pasture grass. But the animals have an excellent appetite and, when fattening on grass, require significant pasture areas. In the absence of fat, the meat of Charolais cattle remains tender, with high palatability.

Productivity of Charolais cattle of various ages

French farms receive their main income from the supply of calves aged 8 to 12 months to Italian and Spanish industrialists.

The milk characteristics of Charolais cows are clearly exaggerated. Sometimes you can find data that Charolais cows give 4 thousand kg of milk per year. But this figure is not always achievable even in meat and dairy breeds. The data showing the milk yield of cows 1000 – 1500 kg per year look more realistic. But even more likely is the fact that no one seriously measured the milk yield of Charolais cows.

Charolais calves must stay with their mother for at least 6 months. At the same time, cows have a very well developed maternal instinct. She will not let anyone near the calf and will not give milk to anyone except her calf. In general, the milk productivity of Charolais cows does not bother anyone. The main thing is that the calf has enough milk and he does not lag behind in development.

Advantages of the Charolais breed

Charolais cattle have enough advantages to be bred in all countries with a developed meat industry:

• precocity
• rapid weight gain on grazing;
• disease resistance;
• strong hooves;
• the ability to feed well both on grass and on grain feed;
• ability to adapt to any climate;
• the ability to produce even larger offspring during heterosis crossing;
• the highest slaughter yield of meat from the carcass;
• one of the lowest percentages of fat content in meat.

Less fat contains only the meat of the Friesian cattle.

Cons of the Charolais breed

Along with the unconditional advantages for which Charolais cattle are valued in the world, it also has serious disadvantages:

• Charolais bulls are very aggressive. Cows, although they are inferior to them in the level of viciousness, but not by much, especially if the cow has a calf;
• heavy calving. Due to the large weight of the calf, fatal outcomes in cows are not uncommon;
• a hereditary disease that causes heart failure in newborn calves;
• Charolais bulls cannot be used on smaller breeds of cattle due to the excessive size of newborn calves.

To avoid such problems, as well as to obtain larger animals, it is precisely the crossing of Charolais cattle with other breeds that is used. Herefords are especially popular in this regard, since their calves are born small, then catching up in size with representatives of other meat breeds. In addition to Herefords and Aberdeen Angus, Charolais are crossed with a breed of cattle bred in the USA: Brahmins. Being an American breed, Brahmins have Indian roots and are representatives of the Zebu.

In the photo, the bull is a Brahmin.

The crossing of Brahmins with Charolais was so active that a new breed of cattle has already been registered in Australia: savory.

To be entered in the Stud Book, a representative of this breed must have 75% Charolais blood and 25% Brahmin blood.

In the photo, the bull is savory. The breed of savory has not yet been consolidated by type. It contains both lighter zebu-shaped animals and heavy ones, more like Charolais.

Charolais appeared in Our Country 15 years ago.

And in Ukraine

Feedback from Charolais owners

It is too early to talk about the opinions of Charolais owners in Our Country or Ukraine. On the territory of the CIS, Charolais is still a very exotic breed. But foreigners already have an opinion.

Conclusion

Charolais could become an excellent source of beef in Our Country if cattle breeding workers change their attitude towards this breed. In all videos, charolais are almost indistinguishable from dairy cattle because of the protruding bones. Whether they are confused with dairy breeds. Either they do not take into account that the phrase “well fattened on pasture” means the presence of tall grass under the feet of Charolais, and not trampled earth with rare patches of almost dead plants. In any case, individuals will not be able to get a Charolais for a long time because of the high cost of the breed and the very small “” livestock.