Normande

What do Normande cattle look like?

A large taurine breed. Both sexes carry horns. Cows stand about 144 cm at the withers and weigh 700 to 800 kg, while bulls reach about 155 cm and up to 1100 kg. The coat is most often red-pied or speckled; black-pied and blonde animals also occur. The head is commonly white with dark skin around the eyes, giving the face a spectacled look. The skin is white and the muzzle dark. Nothing suggests a hump, so this is a humpless European breed.

Where does the Normande come from?

The breed took shape in Normandy in the early nineteenth century. Local dairy cattle, among them the Augeronne, the Cauchoise and the Cotentine, were crossed with Durham animals brought over from England from 1836. Durham is the breed now known as Shorthorn. French Alderney cattle were also drawn in. All three of the local breeds have since died out. A herd book opened in 1883, and the testing of bulls for performance began in 1952.

What the Normande is known for

Normande cows are long-lived and calve without trouble. In Normandy they are normally kept on grass, yet they settle well elsewhere. They tolerate strong sunshine, great heat and high ground, which helps explain why the breed travels so widely. They are also suited to machine milking. Their milk is high in fat and their beef well marbled.

How the Normande is bred and kept

A herd book has been kept since 1883, and bulls have been performance tested since 1952. In Normandy the cattle graze grass for most of the year. The breed has been used in crossings abroad: in Brazil, where it arrived in 1923, it was crossed with zebu cattle to produce a hybrid known as the Normanzu. Exports began in the nineteenth century and continued widely, with shipments to South America dating from 1877.

What the Normande is kept for

This is a dual-purpose breed, but milk comes first. A cow gives about 6595 litres in a lactation of 316 days, with 4.4% fat and 3.6% protein. That rich milk suits butter and cheese. The beef is marbled and well flavoured. In France the breed is a major dairy animal; in Colombia, Brazil and other countries it is kept for both milk and meat.

The land and climate of the Normande

The home of the breed is the grass country of Normandy in north-west France, a temperate region where the cattle are usually kept at pasture. The breed nevertheless copes with a wide range of conditions, including hot sunshine, extremes of heat and high altitude, so it has been taken up in many climates around the world.

Keeping Normande cattle

Keepers in Normandy run the cattle on grass. Cows calve easily and live long, and the breed milks well in a machine parlour, which suits farms that want steady output without fuss. It manages heat, sun and high ground without difficulty. The skin is white and the muzzle dark, both noted in the breed standard.

Related breeds and crosses

The Normande was formed from the Augeronne, the Cauchoise and the Cotentine, all local Normandy dairy breeds that are now extinct, crossed with Durham, later called Shorthorn, and with French Alderney cattle. In Brazil it was crossed with zebuine cattle to make the Normanzu. It is a taurine breed of the European dairy type.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

In the 1960s France had about 4.5 million Normande cattle, roughly a quarter of the national herd. By 2005 the French total was put at about 2.1 million. The FAO classed the breed as not at risk in 2007. Exports have carried it to every continent. Colombia holds the largest population outside France, reported at around 380,000 head.

From the Normande

Questions people ask about Normande

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

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