Parthenais

Parthenais is a beef breed from the Deux-Sèvres départment of western France.

History

The name comes from Parthenay, a town which was an important cattle market during Middle Ages. The golden age of this breed was the second part of 19th century, with the French herdbook being established in 1893, making it one of the oldest in France. At this time, phylloxera killed all the grapevines of the Cognac vineyards. Waiting for a way to fight this disease, farmers bought cattle and in a few years their butter was known all over the country. This Charente-Poitou butter is nowadays an AOC. The breed has been exported to the United Kingdom, Ireland [ [http://www.tasc.ie/parthenaise.html The Irish Parthenaise Cattle Breed Society ] ] the USA and Canada.

Characteristics

The hair colour is golden brown, with lighter eyes, muzzle and legs while the the nose, hooves, and tail are black. Horns are crescent shaped. Bulls weigh up to 1150 Kg (2,600 pounds) and stand about 145 cm tall. Mature cows weigh around 700 Kg (1,600 pounds) and stand about 135 cm tall.

Use

After a multi purpose history, they have been selectively bred as a pure beef breed since 1970 [ [http://www.parthenaiscattle.org/parthenais_cattle_info.htm USA breed society] ] , with a degree of double muscling, producing good tasting lean meat. Cows have enough milk to rear their calves.

References

ee also

* List of breeds of cattle
* Cattle

External links

*fr [http://www.agroparistech.fr/svs/genere/especes/bovins/parthena.htm AgroParisTech description] .
*fr [http://www.brg.prd.fr/brg/pages/rga/bovins/31.php Breed statistics]