Montbéliarde cattle

A Montbéliarde cow

Montbéliarde cattle are a red and white pied cattle breed from the Montbéliard region of France, used mainly for dairying and particularly for cheese making.

History

The name Montbéliarde was first used by Joseph Graber in 1872, when exhibiting a group of cattle at the Langres agricultural competition.^[1] Before this the local stock from indigenous multipurpose breeds such as Fémeline and Tourache (later known as Comtoise) had been improved by Mennonite farmers from Switzerland, and named Franco-Swiss. In 1889 the breed was accepted officially, and a stud book was founded. Since 1980 the breed has been selected for good roughage conversion. After 1900 many cattle were sold to the Midi region and Algeria.

In the 1970s Red Holstein was crossed in^{[citation needed]}. At the same time they sporadically crossed with Fleckvieh bulls but this was not very successful. In the 1990s Montbéliarde cattle were used for crossing into the Danish Red cattle and Vorderwalder breeds^{[citation needed]}.

Characteristics

The animals are red pied with a white head and short horns, and of dairy type. Mature cows weigh 600 to 700 kg and stand about 145 cm tall at the withers, and mature bulls weigh 900 to 1200 kg.^[2] The milk is particularly well suited to cheese making because of a high frequency of Kappa Casein BB variants,^[3] giving higher yields of cheese. Being of less extreme dairy type than modern Holsteins the cows have lower milk yields but better longevity and fertility and lower cell counts in the milk indicating lower mastitis incidence.

Uses

Montbéliarde cattle are mainly a dairy breed but have better beef characteristics than Holstein cattle. There are nearly 400,000 milk recorded Montbéliarde cows in France with an average adult lactation of 7486 litres at 3.9% B.F. and 3.45% P.^[4] The milk protein is of a type well suited to cheese making and some herds are fed a hay based diet to produce milk specifically for this purpose. Cull cows and bull calves are worth more than Holsteins. The breed has spread to many countries and is becoming popular for crossing with Holsteins to give improved longevity and fertility.

Artificial breeding

Recently, crossbreeding of Montbéliarde and Holstein has become quite popular in the US. Studies have shown that the crosses enjoy many benefits over their respective purebreds. For the Holsteins, this includes many benefits in health traits such as fertility, longevity and calving ease. For the Montbéliarde, improved milk production is shown with the average from one study in particular being above 25,000 lbs of milk per cow. Sierra Desert Breeders supplies Montbéliarde semen and embryos in the US.

Notes

1. ^ Organisation for the Selection of the Montbéliarde Breed
2. ^ Montbéliarde Cattle Society of Ireland Ltd.
3. ^ [1] Montbéliarde Crossing With Holsteins Ansc 3221 December 7, 2001 Bob Leuer and Brandi Wilson pp 12-14
4. ^ Montbéliarde UK

External links

• Montbéliarde
• (French) Article on montbéliarde cattle.