Alatau
A dual-purpose beef and dairy breed from Kazakhstan, named after the Alatau Mountains
A dual-purpose breed of cattle from Kazakhstan, then the Kazakh SSR within the Soviet Union. It is named after the Alatau Mountains, whose Turkic name means Motley Mountain, and it is kept for both beef and dairy production.
- A dual-purpose cattle breed from Kazakhstan, recorded in the Soviet period as the Kazakh SSR
- Also written Ala Tau, the breed takes its name from the Alatau Mountains
- The Turkic name of those mountains means Motley Mountain
- Kept for beef and dairy production
What do Alatau cattle look like?
The Alatau, also spelled Ala Tau, is a breed of cattle from Kazakhstan, known in the Soviet period as the Kazakh SSR. It is a dual-purpose breed, which means a herd is kept for two kinds of output: milk and meat rather than one alone. The breed takes its name from the Alatau Mountains, and the Turkic name of those mountains means Motley Mountain. In English the breed appears under two spellings, Alatau and Ala Tau, and both are used for the same animals.
Where does the Alatau come from?
The Alatau belongs to Kazakhstan, which was the Kazakh SSR when the breed was recorded, inside the Soviet Union. Its name was taken from the Alatau Mountains, and the Turkic name of that range means Motley Mountain, a description of how the slopes look. That range gives the breed its identity and its two English spellings, Alatau and Ala Tau. The breed is also written simply as Ala Tau.
Alatau, drawn
What the Alatau is kept for
The Alatau is kept for both beef and dairy production, which makes it a dual-purpose breed. In practice, cows are milked and the herd is also reared for meat, so a keeper is not tied to a single market. Dual-purpose cattle sit between the specialist dairy breeds and the specialist beef breeds, and the balance struck between the two is a matter for the keeper. The breed is recorded as a beef and dairy animal.
Questions people ask about Alatau
Where does the Alatau breed come from?
It comes from Kazakhstan, which was the Kazakh SSR within the Soviet Union when the breed was recorded. Its name comes from the Alatau Mountains, and the Turkic name of those mountains means Motley Mountain.
What is the Alatau kept for?
It is kept for both beef and dairy production, which makes it a dual-purpose breed. Cows are milked, and the herd is also reared for meat, so a keeper is not tied to one market alone.
Does the Alatau have another name?
Yes. In English it appears both as Alatau and as Ala Tau. The two spellings are used for the same breed from Kazakhstan.
What does the name Alatau mean?
The breed is named after the Alatau Mountains. In Turkic, the name of that range means Motley Mountain, a reference to their appearance.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Alatau cattle", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryCow rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. Sizes, colours and customs differ from one herd, valley or breeder to the next. Folk beliefs are described as tradition, never as advice. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-16.
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