Blonde d’Aquitaine

Blonde d’Aquitaine

The Blonde d’Aquitaine or Garonnese is a bovine breed (Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758) bred mainly in the south-west of France, for the production of meat.

Systematic –
From a systematic point of view, it belongs to the Eukaryota Domain, Animalia Kingdom, Sub-Kingdom Eumetazoa, Superphylum Deuterostomia, Phylum Chordata, Subphylum Vertebrata, Infraphylum Gnathostomata, Superclass Tetrapoda, Class Mammalia, Subclass Theria, Infraclasse Eutheria, Order, Suborder Ruminantia, Infraorder Sheep, Family Bovidae, Subfamily Bovinae and therefore to the Genus Bos, to the Species Taurus and to the Blonde d’Aquitaine.

Geographical and Area Distribution –
Blonde d’Aquitaine is a French cattle breed that includes the Garronese, the Blonde from the Pyrenees and the Quercy. This breed is bred, especially on pasture, especially in the south-west of France and with a limited presence also in Italy.

Origins and History –
The Blonde d’Aquitaine is a breed native to Aquitaine, a historic region in the southwestern corner of France, bordering Spain and the Atlantic Ocean.
The original breeding area was therefore that of the Central Massif of France where it is currently bred even if with limited presences also in Italy, even if almost all of the animals are born in the Pyrenees area, from where they leave to be then transferred to Italy at the end of weaning (5/6 months).
The Blonde d’Aquitaine or Garronese is a breed that was obtained over the years after various crossings between different cattle.

Morphology –
Blonde d’Aquitaine is recognized for having a coat with a creamy white, Fomentine or reddish color, with various shades.
Females can reach 700-800 kg with a height at the withers of 138-143 cm and males can weigh 1,200-1,300 kg, with a height at the withers of 145-150 cm.
It has pink depigmented mucous membranes, with short and yellowish horns.
The head is small, the forehead broad and the trunk very long and muscular.

Productive attitude –
The Blonde d’Aquitaine is a breed characterized by an excellent aptitude for meat production, with very high growths in the first year of life and with more than enough milk production for the calf.
The meat that this breed produces is very valuable as it is made up of very thin muscle fibers, which give the meat one of the properties most sought after by consumers, namely tenderness.
Another feature of these cattle is that they have a very thin bone structure, which increases the yield of bone kg / kg of meat, thus favoring both the breeder and the producer as well as the consumer.
These are lively animals that consume a lot of energy and that produce a white-white fat in distinct portions from the muscle so that the resulting meat is lean and surrounded by the white of the fat. It also has a “culard” or semi-culard “character in approximately 30% of subjects.
In general, this breed has a good adaptability to different breeding conditions, good fertility, with heavy calves but generally does not present birth problems and good longevity.
Furthermore, Blonde’s bulls are often used, with excellent results, when crossing cows of different breeds.

Guido Bissanti

Authorities-
– Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
– Roberto Parigi Bini, 1983. The bovine breeds, Pàtron publisher, Bologna.
– Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon, 2010. Atlas of native breeds. Cattle, horses, sheep and goats, pigs reared in Italy, Edagricole-New Business Media, Bologna.