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EveryCow

Back-breeding

Selective breeding of domestic cattle to bring back the look and habits of the extinct aurochs.

A tile drawn for this page, not a picture of Back-breeding.

Also: breeding back, aurochs revival, Heck cattle, Tauros

Back-breeding tries to recreate an animal close to the aurochs by crossing domestic breeds that keep some of its traits, such as size, long forward horns, dark colour in bulls and hardiness. The best known early attempt was made by the brothers Lutz and Heinz Heck in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s; their Heck cattle look only partly like an aurochs. Later projects include Taurus cattle in Germany and the Tauros Programme, begun in the Netherlands in 2008, which uses old southern European breeds such as the Sayaguesa and Maremmana. The aim is less a perfect copy than a hardy grazer that can live wild and shape landscapes as the aurochs did.

See also

Aurochs Crossbreeding Conservation grazing Landrace

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