Red Tambov

What do Red Tambov cattle look like?

Red Tambov is a dual-purpose breed: it is kept to give milk and to fatten for beef, not for one job alone. The coat is red, and the shade differs from animal to animal. Small white patches appear now and then as well, on the chest, the legs, the udder and the belly. A grown cow measures about 127 cm at the shoulder, the bony ridge called the withers where height is taken. The breed was shaped for the conditions of Tambov Oblast, and it has been kept there as farm stock for both milk and meat.

Where does the Red Tambov come from?

The breed belongs to the Tambov Oblast in Russia. It took shape in the middle of the 19th century, when local cattle were put to stock from the Tyrol, along with smaller numbers of Devon and Simmental animals. In 1911 Professor M.M. Pridorogin recommended that the cattle be bred only among themselves, so that the adaptations they had made to their surroundings were not lost. From 1924 the breed's improvement lay with two institutions at Kirsanov, the Lenin collective farm and the state breeding station, both in the district of that name.

What the Red Tambov is known for

Fitting the local conditions is the theme running through the breed's history. By 1911 the stock had settled into the conditions around Tambov, and Pridorogin's advice was to keep it breeding within itself so those gains would not be scattered. That advice guided later management. The animal is a dual-purpose one, expected to produce milk and to put on beef, and it was held on oblast farms for both purposes together.

How the Red Tambov is bred and kept

Closed breeding was the method. The crossings that created the breed, local cattle with stock from the Tyrol and a little Devon and Simmental, were not repeated; instead the animals were mated within their own group so that the qualities they had gained locally held steady. Selection from 1924 onwards lay with the Lenin collective farm and the Kirsanov state breeding station. On the farms of Tambov Oblast the resulting cattle served as dual-purpose stock, giving milk and beef from the same herd.

What the Red Tambov is kept for

The breed is kept for two things at once, milk and beef. It is classed as dual-purpose rather than as a dairy breed or a beef breed, and the cows supply the milk while the same animals are fattened for meat. That double role is how the breed is described from its beginnings: an animal for the mixed farms of Tambov Oblast, where one herd had to answer more than one need.

The land and climate of the Red Tambov

The breed belongs to the Tambov Oblast in Russia, and the local conditions shaped its history. When Pridorogin urged closed breeding in 1911, he wanted to protect the adaptations the animals had made where they lived. Keeping them breeding among themselves, rather than bringing in more outside blood, was the way those local qualities were preserved.

Related breeds and crosses

Three strands make up the breed's ancestry. Local cattle of the Tambov area form the base. Stock from the Tyrol accounts for most of the outside blood, and Devon and Simmental animals add a smaller share. That crossing, made in the middle of the 19th century, was not repeated once closed breeding became the practice.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

The recorded figure for the breed is some 45,000 animals in 1980. Its improvement from 1924 lay with two Kirsanov institutions, the state breeding station and the Lenin collective farm. Those bodies, together with Pridorogin's advice in 1911, are the organised part of the breed's story, and the 1980 total shows how widely the cattle had spread through the farms of Tambov Oblast by then.

Questions people ask about Red Tambov

Good reading and sources

• Animal genetic resources of the USSRFAO, Article

• Red Tambov on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data