Frankeston Red

What do Frankeston Red cattle look like?

The Frankeston Red is dual-purpose stock, kept for milk and meat at the same time. Almost the whole herd is red, with short, fine hair that the breed account links to life in the tropics. The dewlap, the loose fold of skin under the neck, is small and lightly wrinkled. Bulls carry a hump of medium size; in cows it is only slight. The body is long and compact on fine bones, with a straight, strong back, a deep chest and sound legs ending in hard, dark hooves that stand up to wet ground and long walks. The withers, the ridge between the shoulders, are of medium height. Bulls are vigorous and well developed; cows have firm, good-sized udders.

Where does the Frankeston Red come from?

Breeding work started in the middle of 1984. The project was directed by Dr Francisco A. Restom Bitar, a geneticist working with humans and animals, together with his team at the Bovine Genetic Experimental Centre Remanso Caribe, in the municipality of Arjona, close to Cartagena de Indias in Colombia. Local cattle were crossed with zebu, using semen from purebred bulls, and the descendants were then mated among themselves through several generations. Findings appeared in print in 2001. In late 2003 the breed was presented at a scientific convention held by the University of Cartagena, an institution that had spent three years checking the work in the field and backed the results. Papers on it also went to meetings in Panama in 2004 and in Barranquilla, Colombia, that same year.

What the Frankeston Red is known for

The breed was selected for hot, humid country. Its own account claims resistance to heat, strong sunlight and tropical disease, tolerance of the Boophilus microplus tick and of other internal and external parasites, and a coat that filters ultraviolet light, guarding against solar erythema, photosensitisation and skin cancer. Cows are described as fertile and long lived, and it is said to be common to find calves whose grandmothers gave more than fourteen calves in a working life. Calving is reported as easy, with a good birth rate. The cattle forage well, look after their young and are calm to handle, and they cost little to keep. These are the claims made by the project that bred them.

How the Frankeston Red is bred and kept

Breeding began with crosses between local cows and zebu, using semen from purebred bulls. The offspring were measured and compared at each stage, and the lines that adapted best and gave the most milk and meat were kept. Once a prototype existed, animals were mated with one another, generation after generation, to fix the wanted traits, a process the project calls inter se mating. Frankeston bulls are also put to first-cross cows to hold on to hybrid vigour, to stop the share of Bos taurus or Bos indicus genes swinging too far, and to raise output in the generations that follow. The programme rested on planned, orderly work rather than chance.

What the Frankeston Red is kept for

Milk and meat together are the whole point of this breed. Cows average 2,580 kg of milk over a 313-day lactation, with the second lactation better than the first, and the project puts that at 338 per cent above the milk typical of the region, with meat output 28 per cent higher. Daughters of Frankeston bulls have given up to 28.1 kg in a day and more than 4,800 kg in a lactation. From peak yield recorded early in lactation, using a factor of 0.416, total production is estimated at 6,000 kg for a peak of 25 kg a day and 6,750 kg for a peak of 28 kg. Bulls under good conditions can gain about 1,000 g a day.

The land and climate of the Frankeston Red

The Frankeston was made for the warm tropics: heat, strong sun, high humidity and the diseases that come with them. The short, fine red coat and the dark, hard hooves are the features the breed account ties to this setting, the coat screening sunlight and the hooves coping with wet ground and long distances. The cattle are run on tropical pasture, foraging for themselves rather than housed indoors. The project also notes that the animals answer well when feed, shade and management improve, which suggests there is more to come where conditions allow. The centre that developed them sits in the Caribbean lowlands of northern Colombia.

Keeping Frankeston Red cattle

Keeping them is straightforward by the project's account: they run on tropical pasture and forage for themselves, and are managed without hormones, antibiotics or animal waste products in the feed. Calving is described as easy, peak milk comes 50 to 75 days after calving, and bulls serve naturally. The breed is said to cost little to keep. Bulls are also put to first-cross cows, which keeps hybrid vigour in the herd.

Related breeds and crosses

The Frankeston was built from local criollo-type cattle crossed with zebu and with purebred bulls of other breeds. In later breeding, Frankeston bulls are used over first-cross cows rather than purebreds, which the project says protects hybrid vigour and keeps the balance of Bos taurus and Bos indicus genes from swinging too far either way. The breed account compares its output with other breeds and with crossbred cattle milked around the Caribbean.

Questions people ask about Frankeston Red

Good reading and sources

• Frankeston on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data