Charolais cattle
The Charolais or Charolaise is a French breed of taurine beef cattle. It originates in, and is named for, the Charolais area surrounding Charolles, in the département of Saône-et-Loire in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France. It is known for its colours, which can vary from white to wheaten.
The Charolais is raised for meat. It has been used in the development of a number of taurindicine breeds such as the Brazilian Canchim, and may be used for cross-breeding with other breeds, among them the Aberdeen Angus and Hereford.
History
The Charolais is a traditional breed of the historic Charolais region, the area round the town of Charolles in the Saône-et-Loire département of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of eastern France – for which it is named. Its range also extended into the Nivernais to the north-west.The Charolais is the second-most numerous cattle breed in France after the Prim'Holstein, and is the most common beef breed in that country, ahead of the Limousin. At the end of 2014, France had head of Charolais, including cows, down 0.6% from a year earlier.
It is a world breed, reported to DAD-IS by 68 countries, of which 37 report population data. The world population is estimated at. The largest populations are reported from the Czech Republic and Mexico. The breed was introduced to the southern United States from Mexico in 1934.
In 2011, Charolais-Brionnais Country applied to UNESCO to be labelled as a World Heritage Site, citing among other things a "cultural landscape" for raising cattle. The application was not successful.
Characteristics
The Charolais is among the heaviest of cattle breeds: bulls weigh from, and cows from. The coat ranges from white to cream-coloured; the nose is uniformly pink.The Charbray, a cross-breed with Brahman cattle, is recognised as a breed in some countries. The Brazilian Canchim is a composite breed with 5/8 Charolais and 3/8 Indu-Brasil. Other derived breeds include Charford and Char-Swiss in the United States.