All breeds
291 breeds so far, best known first. 124 more are on the list to be written.
🇳🇱 Netherlands and 3 moreHolstein Friesian
A black and white dairy breed kept worldwide, with red and white lines tooTaurine · Dairy
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreAyrshire
Red-and-white dairy cattle from south-west Scotland, hardy, long-lived and easy calversTaurine · Dairy · Easy calving
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 5 moreBraunvieh
A large Alpine brown dairy breed from Switzerland, known for its strength and high milk yield.Taurine · Dairy · Rich milk
🇺🇸 United StatesGuernsey
A fawn dairy breed from Guernsey, its milk tinted gold by beta-caroteneTaurine · Dairy · Docile
🇺🇸 United States and 3 moreDanish RedRød Dansk Malkerace
A red Danish dairy breed, with a modern line and a 1970 lineTaurine · Dairy · Rich milk
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreMontbéliarde
A red and white dairy breed from eastern France, prized for cheesemaking milk.Taurine · Dairy · Rich milk
🇩🇪 Germany and 4 moreGerman Black Pied
A dairy breed of the North Sea coast, black and white, smaller than the HolsteinTaurine · Dairy · Long-lived
🇱🇻 LatviaLatvian Brown
A red dairy breed from Latvia, developed from Angeln stock and once numbering over a million head.Taurine · Dairy · Docile
🇸🇪 SwedenSwedish Red-and-WhiteSvensk röd och vit boskap
A red and white Swedish milk breed with horns on cows and bulls alikeTaurine · Dairy
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreAbondance
A red and white dairy breed from the French Alps, kept for milk and mountain grazing.Taurine · Dairy · Heat-tolerant
🇸🇪 SwedenFjällSvensk fjällras
A polled, mostly white dairy cow from the Swedish mountains, hardy on thin grazing.Taurine · Dairy · Polled
🇮🇸 IcelandIcelandicíslenskur nautgripur
A small, mostly polled dairy breed isolated in Iceland for a thousand yearsTaurine · Dairy · Polled
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreTarentaise
A French alpine breed from the Tarentaise valley, kept for cheese and for crossingTaurine · Dairy · Docile
🇪🇸 SpainMenorquina
A red, hornless dairy breed from the Spanish island of Menorca, prized for Mahón cheese production.Taurine · Dairy · Disease-resistant
🇮🇳 IndiaMalnad Giddaಮಲೆನಾಡು ಗಿಡ್ಡ
A small, dark humpless breed from the Western Ghats of Karnataka, kept for milk and draught work.Taurine · Dairy · Disease-resistant
🇫🇮 FinlandWestern Finncattle
A red, hornless dual-purpose breed from western Finland, kept for milk and beefTaurine · Dairy · Polled
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreMurnau-Werdenfels
A long-lived brown dairy breed of the Bavarian uplands, milk and beefTaurine · Dairy · Long-lived
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreRed Poll
A naturally hornless red English breed, kept for milk and beefTaurine · Dual-purpose · Polled
🇮🇪 Ireland and 2 moreKerryBó Chiarraí
A rare black dairy breed from southwest Ireland, one of Europe's oldest milk cattleTaurine · Dairy · Thrifty foragers
🇸🇪 SwedenVäneko
An endangered Swedish dairy breed, black or red with white, named for a villageTaurine · Dairy
🇪🇪 EstoniaEstonian nativeeesti maatõug
A polled dairy breed from Estonia, yellow-brown to red, with a herdbook since 1914Taurine · Dairy · Polled
🇧🇷 BrazilCaracu
A solid-red Brazilian Criollo beef breed from Minas Gerais, humpless and hornedTaurine · Beef
🇦🇲 Armenia and 3 moreCaucasian Brown
A variable brown breed of the Caucasus, kept for milk and for milk with meatTaurine · Dairy
🇳🇴 NorwayTelemarkTelemarkfe
A small red dairy breed from Telemark in Norway, with a white cross on the backTaurine · Dairy
🇫🇷 FranceBretonne Pie Noir
A small pied black and white dairy cow from Brittany, once half a million strongTaurine · Dairy · Thrifty foragers
🇦🇹 Austria and 1 moreMurbodenMurbodner Rind
An Austrian mountain breed kept for milk, meat and draught workTaurine · Dairy
🇫🇷 FranceFrench Simmental
A large French dairy breed, red pied with a white head, milked for comtéTaurine · Dairy
🇬🇧 United KingdomAlderney
An extinct small dairy breed from the Channel Islands, dun or fawn and short-hornedTaurine · Dairy · Rich milk
🇫🇮 FinlandEastern Finncattleitäsuomenkarja
A dual-purpose Finncattle landrace from eastern Finland, also called kyyttöTaurine · Dairy
🇩🇪 GermanyHarzer Rotvieh
A solid red upland breed from the Harz, once kept for milk, beef and draught workTaurine · Dairy · Cold-hardy
🇫🇷 FranceMaraîchine
A large wheaten marsh breed of western France, kept for beef and wet meadowsTaurine · Beef · Disease-resistant
🇫🇮 FinlandFinnish AyrshireSuomen Ayrshire
Finland's most numerous dairy breed, red and white, from Scottish Ayrshire stockTaurine · Dairy · Rich milk
🇬🇪 GeorgiaRed Mingrelianმეგრული წითელი ჯიში
A compact, horned breed from western Georgia, kept for milk and beefTaurine · Dairy · Rich milk
🇸🇮 SloveniaCikaCikasto govedo
A small red-brown dairy breed from Slovenia's alpine valleys, with a white line along the backTaurine · Dairy · Thrifty foragers
🇵🇹 PortugalMinhota
A tall beef breed from Minho in northern Portugal, once also worked and milked.Taurine · Beef
🇫🇮 FinlandFinncattle
Small, hornless Finnish dairy cattle in three types: red, white and red-and-whiteTaurine · Dairy · Polled
🇪🇪 EstoniaEstonian RedEesti punane veis
A red-coated dairy breed from Estonia, formed from local cows and imported red stockTaurine · Dairy
🇸🇪 SwedenSwedish PolledSvensk Kullig Boskap
A hornless red dairy cow from Sweden, formed in 1937 from the Rödkulla and Fjäll breedsTaurine · Dairy · Polled
🇨🇺 CubaSiboney de Cuba
A Cuban dairy cross of Holstein Friesian and zebu, bred for milk since the 1960sComposite · Dairy · Thrifty foragers
🇨🇦 Canada and 1 moreMilking Shorthorn
A North American dairy breed, red, roan or white, sometimes hornlessTaurine · Dairy · Polled
🇪🇹 EthiopiaAfar
A long-horned, humped Ethiopian breed kept mainly for milkTaurine · Dairy
🇧🇾 BelarusBelarus RedБеларуская чырвоная
A red dairy breed of Belarus, long-lived and easy to feedTaurine · Dairy · Long-lived
🇻🇪 VenezuelaTipo Carora
A Venezuelan dairy breed, pale fawn or white with black skinTaurine · Dairy · Heat-tolerant
🇻🇪 VenezuelaVenezuelan CriolloCriollo Limonero
A taurine landrace dairy cow from Zulia, Venezuela, yellow to red and heat-hardyTaurine · Dairy · Heat-tolerant
🇵🇹 PortugalAlgarvia
A red or chestnut triple-purpose breed from the Algarve, rebuilt from survivorsTaurine · Dairy
🇦🇺 AustraliaIllawarra Shorthorn
A large red Australian dairy breed, horned, docile and long-livedTaurine · Dairy · Docile
🇺🇸 United StatesDutch Belted
An American dairy breed, black or red, with a wide white band around the middleTaurine · Dairy · Polled
🇷🇺 RussiaRed GorbatovКрасная горбатовская
A red dairy breed from Gorbatov in central Russia, with white horns tipped blackTaurine · Dairy · Disease-resistant
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Menorquina: Discasto, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Malnad Gidda: Pavanaja, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Swedish Red Polled: Ankara, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- German Black Pied: WytzeNauta, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Braunvieh: 4028mdk09, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Väneko: Philaweb, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Montbéliarde: Abujoy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Telemark: Torstein Frogner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Maraîchine: Eponimm, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Abondance: Walpole, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Guernsey: Man vyi, Public domain, source
- Icelandic: Christian Bickel (user Fingalo ), CC BY-SA 2.0 de, source
- Murnau-Werdenfels: Pippo-b, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Latvian Brown: Ingrīda Briede, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Kerry: Pedroserafin, CC BY 2.5, source
- Holstein Friesian: Vista Alegre baserria, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Caracu: Nevinho, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bretonne Pie Noir: Tsaag Valren, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- French Simmental: Grimlock, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Harzer Rotvieh: Karen Alge, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Eastern Finncattle: Sini Merikallio, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Ayrshire: Biggle, Jacob., Public domain, source
- Danish Red: Malene Thyssen, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Minhota: Figueiredo, Pedro, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Estonian Red: Sillerkiil, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cika: romanm ( talk ), Public domain, source
- Murboden: Marion Schneider & Christoph Aistleitner, Public domain, source
- Fjäll: Yvonne Zimmermann, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source
- Alderney: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, source
- Swedish Red-and-White: Tjalve77, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tarentaise: BlackSlash73, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Finnish Ayrshire: Ximonic , Simo Räsänen, GFDL, source
- Belarus Red: Homoatrox, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Finncattle: Eero Järnefelt, Public domain, source
- Western Finncattle: MPorciusCato (cropped by Pitke ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Red Poll: Poinciana, CC BY-SA 3.0, source