Cattle breeds - Bos primigenius f. taurus

• Bos primigenius f. taurus (Heck cattle)

Substitutes of the extint wild cattle

This part of the website is meant to give an overview of all kind of initiatives on the development of breeds as substitutes of the extint wild cattle in Eurasia. We will not enter the discussion which breeds are good of bad. There are several different views from different starting points on how to develop certain kinds of breeds.

In the recent past we learned already a lot, but we still have to learn more, both scientific, as from the practical developments in future. We are looking forward to receive more examples of primitative breeds to publish on this website.

The European aurochs got extinct a few centuries ago, but the genes are still available in the primitive breeds. In several places in Europe and other places in the world, breeds have developed themselves in a natural way, such as the Heck cattle in the Dutch "Oostvaardersplassen". In Europe several organisations are working on the improvements of the breeds in such vast landscapes. The Large Herbivore Network expects that populations of such animals can develop themselves in a way comparable with the natural behaviour and ecological impact of the extinct species.

The Aurochs or Urus, the ancestor of domestic cattle, was a type of huge wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627. 

Several attemps are going on to develop new breeds that can survive under wild circumstances, such as Heck cattle. See for detailed information Heck cattle.

To work out later.

Heck cattle were developed in the early 20th century by the Heck brothers in Germany in an attempt to breed back modern cattle to their ancestral form, the aurochs, Bos primigenius primigenius. Heinz Heck, in Munich, crossed Hungarian Grey Cattle, Scottish Highland, Murnau-Werdenfels, Angeln, German Friesian, Podolic cattle and Corsican breeds. In Berlin, his brother, Lutz Heck crossed Spanish and French fighting cattle with other breeds. The resulting animals’ configurations were largely similar. The Berlin breed was lost in the aftermath of World War II; so modern Heck cattle are descended from the Hellabrunn breed (Munich). At the end of the 20th century, other so-called primitive breeds were crossbred with Heck cattle to come closer to the aim of creating a cattle breed that resembles the extinct aurochs in external appearance.

Distribution

• There are about 2000 Heck cattle in Europe and few elsewhere.
• In Oostvaardersplassen in Flevoland near Lelystad (Netherlands), there are about 600 Heck cattle freely roaming without human interference.
• Other cattle are at the Falkenthaler Rieselfelder near Berlin.
• There are also Heck Cattle at the Nesseaue nature reserve near Jena, Thuringia and at the Grubenfelder Leonie nature reseve in Auerbach, Bavaria.
• There were about 100 registered in France in 2000.
• In 2009 nine cows and four bulls were imported to south west England from Belgium.
• To complete later.

• Legal aspects of (Re-)introduction of large herbivores

• Large herbivores on the move
• Status report 2007 of the large herbivores of the palaeartic