Tarentaise

What do Tarentaise cattle look like?

Tarentaise is a breed of domestic cattle from the French Alps. It takes its name from the Tarentaise valley, where the animals stayed apart from other cattle for very many generations and became suited to life on high, steep and uneven ground. These are grazing cattle above all: they walk rough slopes to find their forage instead of being kept on flat, improved pasture. The breed has a calm way about it, which is one reason it is handled and crossed in commercial herds. Its milk goes into cheese making, and in North America it is mainly used to breed crossbred cows for hard rangeland.

Where does the Tarentaise come from?

The breed belongs to the Tarentaise valley in France and comes down from the domestic cattle kept there. Across thousands of years the valley herd was cut off from other cattle and so developed on its own line. That separation, along with the steep alpine landscape, shaped animals able to live high up and to search out grazing on rough, sloping land. French farmers still use them today in the dairies of the Tarentaise, Beaufortain and Maurienne valleys, where the milk becomes a cheese with its own particular flavour. From there the cattle have travelled, and associations for them now exist in Canada and the United States.

What the Tarentaise is known for

Breeders value the Tarentaise for its steady temperament. The cattle are quiet to work with, which suits them to large commercial herds and to crossbreeding programmes. They are hardy in the way mountain cattle tend to be: they can live at height, move over steep and broken ground and find enough forage there. That mix of a calm nature and the ability to make a living on rough range is what the breed is best known for away from France. The markings of the cattle are a further reason people keep them.

How the Tarentaise is bred and kept

In its home valley the breed was kept as a closed population for a very long time, with animals chosen from local stock. Beyond France, and above all in the United States, Tarentaise bulls are put to other cattle to produce crossbred cows. Those crossbred females are wanted for their ability to cope with difficult rangeland and with higher elevations. Breed associations in the United States and Canada keep records and promote the cattle. The animals live mainly at grass, on mountain pasture at home and on open range abroad, rather than in intensive housing.

What the Tarentaise is kept for

Milk is the traditional product in France. Herds in the Tarentaise, Beaufortain and Maurienne valleys supply dairies that make a cheese with a character of its own, tied to those pastures. In North America the breed has a different job: it is kept and crossed chiefly so that the resulting cows can graze and calve on tough range and at higher altitudes, and beef comes through those crossbred herds rather than from purebred fattening. The markings of the breed are another reason it is kept and shown.

The land and climate of the Tarentaise

This is mountain cattle. The breed was shaped in the French Alps and does best where the ground rises. It is at home at high altitude, on steep and rough slopes, and it can cross broken terrain to reach grazing. The same qualities carry over to the higher parts of western North America, where the cattle are used on range country at elevation. In France the pastures lie in the Tarentaise, Beaufortain and Maurienne valleys, whose milk gives the local cheese its particular character.

Keeping Tarentaise cattle

The breed is quiet to handle, which makes working it easier. It is kept at grass, on alpine pasture in France and on open rangeland in North America, and it finds its own forage over rough, steep ground. Crossbred daughters are valued in commercial herds at calving time.

Related breeds and crosses

The Tarentaise belongs to the cattle of its own valley, held apart from other breeds over a great many generations, so it is a line in its own right rather than a recent blend. Outside France it is used deliberately in crossing: in the United States, bulls of the breed are put to other cattle to make crossbred cows for rangeland and higher ground. Breed associations for these cattle are found in the United States and in Canada.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

The breed's centre is the Tarentaise valley in France, with dairying reaching into the Beaufortain and Maurienne valleys as well. From there the cattle have spread: they are kept in Canada and the United States, where associations register them, and ranchers there use them to breed cows suited to hard range and high country. Away from its home area the breed works largely through crossing rather than as a purebred herd.

Questions people ask about Tarentaise

Good reading and sources

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