Taurine cattle
Humpless cattle, Bos taurus, from the aurochs of the Near East: the breeds of Europe, West Africa and East Asia.
Taurine cattle, Bos taurus, are the humpless cattle. They descend from the aurochs of the Near East, tamed in the upper valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates roughly ten and a half thousand years ago, and they spread with early farmers into Europe, North Africa and East Asia. Almost every European breed is taurine, from the Holstein and Jersey to the Highland and Chianina, as are the Wagyu and Hanwoo of East Asia and the N'Dama and Kuri of Africa. In South Asia, the native cattle are zebu instead, though taurine blood has come in through crossbreeding.
Origins in the Near East
Archaeology and ancient DNA point to the northern Fertile Crescent, in what is now south-east Turkey, northern Syria and northern Iraq, as the place where aurochs were first kept and bred around ten and a half thousand years ago. The founding herd seems to have been small. From there, cattle travelled with farmers west along the Mediterranean and up the Danube into Europe, and south into Egypt. Wild aurochs bulls sometimes crossed with domestic cows along the way, leaving traces of local wild ancestry in some European breeds.
How to tell them
Taurine cattle have no hump over the shoulders and usually a small, tight dewlap, with shorter ears than zebu. Their coats are often thicker and they cope better with cold than with heat. They have fewer sweat glands than zebu. Within the taurine family, breeds range from the long-legged Podolic grey cattle to the compact Highland and the tiny Dexter, and from the black Angus to the white Charolais and the pied Holstein.
Taurine cattle in Africa and Asia
West Africa has old taurine breeds of its own: the long-horned N'Dama of Guinea and the short-horned Baoulé, Lagune and others. Many of them tolerate the trypanosomes carried by tsetse fly, which makes them vital where zebu struggle. The Kuri of Lake Chad is another African taurine. In East Asia, the Wagyu of Japan, the Hanwoo of Korea and Mongolian cattle are taurine or mostly so. In India, Holstein and Jersey crosses with native zebu now make up a large share of the dairy herd.
Worth knowing
- Holstein Friesian: The most numerous dairy breed in the world
- Aberdeen Angus: Black polled beef breed from north-east Scotland
- Highland: Shaggy, long-horned cattle of the Scottish Highlands
- Jersey: Small, fawn dairy cow from the island of Jersey
- Chianina: Very tall white breed of Tuscany
- N'Dama: Trypanotolerant West African taurine
- Wagyu: Japanese cattle bred for marbling
- Hanwoo: Native brown cattle of Korea
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Taurine on EveryCow
The breeds written up so far, best known first.
🇨🇭 Switzerland and 5 moreSimmental
A large dual-purpose breed from the Swiss Simme valley, red and white with strong growth rates.Taurine · Dual-purpose · Docile
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreShorthorn
A historic British breed from north-east England, kept for milk and meat with red, white or roan coats.Taurine · Dual-purpose · Docile
🇮🇹 Italy and 5 moreChianina
A massive white Italian breed known for beef production and historic draught work in Tuscany.Taurine · Beef · Heat-tolerant
🇭🇺 HungaryHungarian GreyMagyar Szürke
A tall, long-horned Podolic breed from the Hungarian plains, kept for beef and draught work.Taurine · Beef · Marbled beef
🇮🇪 Ireland and 2 moreDexter
A small Irish dual-purpose breed, usually black or red, kept for milk and beef on poor land.Taurine · Dual-purpose · Thrifty foragers
🇮🇹 Italy and 2 morePiedmontesePiemontese
A white Italian beef breed known for double muscling and premium lean meat.Taurine · Beef · Marbled beef
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreNormande
A large red-pied French dual-purpose breed, kept for rich milk and marbled beefTaurine · Dual-purpose · Rich milk
🇫🇷 FranceSalersrace de Salers
A large dual-purpose breed from the Cantal mountains of France, red or black with lyre-shaped horns.Taurine · Dual-purpose · Docile
🇭🇷 Croatia and 1 moreBoškarin
A gray dual-purpose breed from the Istrian peninsula, kept for milk and gourmet beef.Taurine · Dual-purpose · Docile
🇳🇱 Netherlands and 1 moreLakenvelder
A small Dutch dual-purpose breed with a black or red coat and a broad white belt around the middle.Taurine · Dual-purpose · Docile
🇮🇹 ItalyMaremmana
A big grey Podolic beef breed from the old marshes of the Maremma in central ItalyTaurine · Beef · Thrifty foragers
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreMaine-AnjouRouge des Prés
A red and white French beef breed from the Maine country, once a milk and meat animalTaurine · Beef
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreSenepol
A polled red beef breed from St Croix, built for heat and insectsTaurine · Beef · Heat-tolerant
🇵🇱 PolandPolish RedPolska czerwona
A red Polish breed kept for both milk and beefTaurine · Dual-purpose
🇧🇷 BrazilGuzerá
A Brazilian humped breed from Kankrej and Crioulo stock, usually grey or whiteZebu · Beef · Polled
🇦🇹 Austria and 1 moreTyrol GreyTiroler Grauvieh
An alpine dual-purpose breed of the Tyrol, milked and fattenedTaurine · Dual-purpose · Cold-hardy
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreRed Poll
A naturally hornless red English breed, kept for milk and beefTaurine · Dual-purpose · Polled
🇮🇹 Italy and 3 morePustertaler SprinzenPustertaler Schecken
Rare colour-sided Alpine cattle from South Tyrol: white with brown or black flank patchesTaurine · Dual-purpose
🇫🇮 FinlandWestern Finncattle
A red, hornless dual-purpose breed from western Finland, kept for milk and beefTaurine · Dairy · Polled
🇫🇷 FranceVosgienne
A medium-sized French breed from the Vosges mountains, kept for milk and meatTaurine · Dual-purpose · Cold-hardy
🇮🇹 ItalyAosta Black PiedValdostana Pezzata Nera
A short-horned, black-pied dual-purpose breed from the Aosta Valley in ItalyTaurine · Dual-purpose · Thrifty foragers
🇸🇪 SwedenSwedish Red PolledRödkulla
A hornless red Swedish cow kept for milk and meat, once reduced to about 20 animals.Taurine · Dual-purpose · Polled
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreHinterwaldHinterwälder Rind
A small Black Forest cow, white head and pied coat, kept for both milk and beefTaurine · Dual-purpose · Cold-hardy
🇦🇲 Armenia and 3 moreCaucasian Brown
A variable brown breed of the Caucasus, kept for milk and for milk with meatTaurine · Dairy
🇮🇪 IrelandIrish MoiledBó Maol
A rare hornless Irish breed, red with a white back stripe, used for milk and beefTaurine · Dual-purpose · Polled
🇫🇷 FranceArmoricaine
A red and white Breton cow kept for milk and meat, once down to forty headTaurine · Dual-purpose
🇺🇦 UkraineBrown Carpathianбура карпатська
A brown dual-purpose breed from the Trans-Carpathian region of UkraineTaurine · Dual-purpose
🇮🇹 ItalyRendena
A dual-purpose Alpine breed from the Val Rendena in Trentino, chestnut to near-black.Taurine · Dual-purpose
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Maremmana: Zyance, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Swedish Red Polled: Ankara, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Normande: Tsaag Valren, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Maine-Anjou: The original uploader was Cyrille BERNIZET at French Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Polish Red: myself ( User:Piotrus ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tyrol Grey: Burkhard Mücke, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lakenvelder: Dickelbers, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Guzerá: Jose Reynaldo da Fonseca, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Western Finncattle: MPorciusCato (cropped by Pitke ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vosgienne: Eponimm, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Senepol: Buenoperez, Public domain, source
- Aosta Black Pied: Lohen11, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Irish Moiled: No machine-readable author provided. Malcolm Morley~commonswiki assume, Public domain, source
- Piedmontese: Aleks, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Chianina: Monica, CC BY 2.0, source
- Simmental: Richard Bartz, Munich Makro Freak, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Red Poll: Poinciana, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hungarian Grey: The original uploader was Faludi at Hungarian Wikipedia ., CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Dexter: Hayden Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, source
- Salers: B.navez, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Armoricaine: Yannig.coulomb, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Boškarin: Orlovic, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shorthorn: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Rendena: User:Rendena, CC0, source
- Hinterwald: -- Xocolatl 10:55, 26 April 2008 (UTC), Public domain, source