Rarámuri Criollo

What do Rarámuri Criollo cattle look like?

A small to medium Criollo type with lyre-shaped horns and a coat that can be almost any colour, from solid black or white through grey, dun, gold and red-brown to brindle and spotted. Cows stand roughly 122 cm at the withers and weigh about 370 kg, while bulls reach around 133 cm and can pass 620 kg, so the sexes differ plainly in size. Bulls' horns often sweep down and out around the head; cows' horns generally curve upward. Among North American Criollo cattle this type counts as large, though it is smaller than most beef breeds. No breed association registers it.

Where does the Rarámuri Criollo come from?

The line goes back to the first cattle that Hernán Cortés and Villalobos landed in Mexico. For centuries the animals stayed in a remote pocket of the Copper Canyon, between Chínipas and Témoris in Chihuahua, in the Rio Oteros country that the Tarahumara call home. The Tarahumara, who also call themselves Rarámuri, a word meaning 'fleet foot', have kept this cattle for more than 500 years. A small group was taken to the Jornada Experimental Range in New Mexico in 2005 for scientific work.

What the Rarámuri Criollo is known for

Herd studies show cows that roam over wider ground and walk further each day than British breeds, especially through the dry season of the American south-west. Their mothering differs too: calves stay close and follow the cow rather than hiding or being left with a guardian animal while the herd grazes, which is the pattern in British crossbreds. This exploring habit, a lighter need for water and the freedom to calve anywhere are thought to spare fragile desert plants, and are studied as a more sustainable way to graze dry country under a changing climate.

How the Rarámuri Criollo is bred and kept

The type has had almost no deliberate selection, and scientists suspect it carries little genetic material from outside breeds, which is why they want its traits kept. No herd book or breed association registers it, though it is treated as a distinct form among Criollo cattle. Calves in the research herd are followed from birth. A preliminary finding is an unusually long breeding life, with cows able to produce beyond 22 years of age. Steers finished on grass are reported to reach 800 to 1000 lb at 30 months.

What the Rarámuri Criollo is kept for

Early Spanish explorers and the Tarahumara kept these animals for milk, for draught work and as company; households often brought them indoors beside the house, where their warmth helped through the winter. Today the type is looked at as a novel beef breed, suited to arid country with thin resources and to conservation grazing schemes. Grass-finished steers are reported to yield very tender meat, and the long breeding life is seen as an advantage for producers on dry rangeland.

The land and climate of the Rarámuri Criollo

The homeland is the Sierra Tarahumara and the Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, a broken, dry and remote country of steep canyons. Animals taken to southern New Mexico live on desert rangeland and are watched through the harsh dry season. Their habit of moving widely and their lower reliance on water are thought to suit such dry country and to leave the vegetation less worn, which matters as the climate shifts.

Who keeps the Rarámuri Criollo

The Tarahumara, or Rarámuri, are the people who bred and kept this cattle type for over five centuries in the Sierra Tarahumara. They used the animals for milk and for company, often sheltering them inside or beside the home in winter. Early Spanish explorers also made use of the ancestors of these cattle. Today the study herd in New Mexico is managed by scientists, while the home population remains in the hands of Tarahumara herders in the canyon country of Chihuahua.

Custom and folk tradition

Keepers are herders rather than breeders in the modern sense: for most of the type's history no one chose which animals mated, and the cattle simply lived and calved as they would. The name Rarámuri itself means 'fleet foot'. Cows were brought indoors next to the house in winter so their body heat warmed the family, a practice recorded among Tarahumara households. In the canyon country the herds stayed shut away between Chínipas and Témoris for generations, seldom mixing with other cattle.

Keeping Rarámuri Criollo cattle

Little is recorded about day-to-day husbandry. Animals lived beside or inside Tarahumara homes in winter for warmth, and the herds grazed open canyon country. In New Mexico the research group is observed from birth, with calves followed through their early months so their mothering and ranging habits can be compared with British breeds. No regular feeding, housing or health routine is described.

Related breeds and crosses

Criollo cattle in North America include the closely related Corriente and other Mexican forms such as the Mixteco and the Fronterizo. This type is counted as one of these Criollo forms and as a distinct one among them. For comparison, behavioural work sets the Rarámuri Criollo against British breeds and British crosses such as the Black Baldy.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

No breed association registers the Rarámuri Criollo, and it is classed as a research population rather than a commercial breed. Mexico holds the home herds in the Sierra Tarahumara; the United States holds a study group, taken to the Jornada Experimental Range in New Mexico in 2005. Scientists argue for keeping the type because they believe it has had almost no crossing with other breeds and so preserves unusual genetics and behaviour. Cows weigh about 370 kg, bulls over 620 kg, and some cows breed past 22 years.

Questions people ask about Rarámuri Criollo

Good reading and sources

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