Aubrac Cattle Breed – Everything You Need to Know

The Aubrac is low maintenance cattle that are well adapted to the rough mountainous terrain from where they originate. They are hardy and excellent foragers able to find food in rough terrain. They are able to feed on low-cost roughage without compromise to their meat or milk production. As such they are a valuable asset to farmers in the region or with similar terrain.

AUBRAC BREED OF CATTLE QUICK PROFILE OVERVIEW
Country of Origin:	France
Other Names:	None
Main Purpose:	Milk and meat
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Can be used for	Breed, Meat, Milk, Skin
Ideal Climate:	Heat, Cold, Most Climates
Conservation Status:	Not Listed by the *ALC Status/Rarity: Common
Health Issues?	No known health issues
Good Starter Cattle?	Novice to intermediate Cattle farmer/keeper level
Cattle Associations:	Cattle Exchange, Pedigree Irish Aubrac Cattle Breed Society and Association for the selection of the Aubrac Breed (UPRA AUBRAC)
Cattle Clubs:	Please refer to the Cattle Exchange, Pedigree Irish Aubrac Cattle Breed Society and Association for the selection of the Aubrac Breed (UPRA AUBRAC) for more information on the Aubrac cattle breed. Aubrac Beef LLC in Montana is an Aubrac breeders sites in the United States of America.
Where to buy them?	Please refer to the Cattle Exchange, Pedigree Irish Aubrac Cattle Breed Society and Association for the selection of the Aubrac Breed (UPRA AUBRAC) for more information on the Aubrac cattle breed. Aubrac Beef LLC in Montana is an Aubrac breeders sites in the United States of America.
Child Friendly?	Livestock should not be left unattended around unsupervised children
General Information:	The Aubrac cows’ milk is used for the Laguiole or Tome de Laguiole French Cheese. The Cheese is said to have been first made in the 19th century at a monastery in the mountains in Aubrac. The monks passed the recipe for this semi-hard cheese that takes around 6 to 12 months to age to local buronniers (owners of burons or mountain huts) during the alpages. The Tome de Laguiole cheese is from the plateau of Aubrac in the region of Aveyron in Southern France. It is protected under the French Appellation d’Origine Controlee (AOC) and has been since 1961 with an amended decree in 1986. The Aubrac is low maintenance cattle that are well adapted to the rough mountainous terrain from where they originate. They are hardy and excellent foragers able to find food in rough terrain. They are able to feed on low-cost roughage without compromise to their meat or milk production. As such they are a valuable asset to farmers in the region or with similar terrain. Advanced research available today has been able to significantly improve the breed milk, longevity, calving regularity, muscle growth, and grass-fed/corn-fed flexibility.
Note: *ALC stands for American Livestock Conservancy

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Aubrac cattle breed have a long sturdy muscular body with short to medium length powerful legs. They have a well-developed face structure usually with white patches over the eyes and snout. The bottom half of their legs can also be white as well as a patch on their chests. Their noses and feet are dark browns as well as the tip of their tails and ears.

Size:

Medium to large

CATTLE ⇒	COW	BULL
Breed Color:	Tan with white patches	Slighter darker tan than the cow and can also have white patches
Breed Weight:	600 to 750 kgs	900 to 1100 kgs
Breed Height:	129 cm	140 cm
Horns:	They had horns that grow from the side of their head and curve forward	They had horns that grow from the side of their head and curve forward
Temperament:	Gentle and well behaved	Gentle and well behaved. Bulls should always be handled with caution.
Matures at age:	6 to 8 months or 9 + months	6 to 8 months or 9 + months
Puberty Age:	6 to 15 months	9 to 1o months
Breeding Age:	13 to 15 months	1 year
Breeding Traits:	See Cow breeding & Milking Info	Cover 25 to 30 Cows in 1 season

COW BREEDING & MILKING INFORMATION
Most Cattle produce milk but not all of them are used in the dairy Cattle capacity for their milk. Cows only calve once a year and should have 12 to 14-month inter-calving cycle. The Aubrac cows have great longevity and can breed right up to around 16 years of age bearing a calf every year. They produce an excellent quality of milk, have really good maternal instincts making them good mothers. They have easy birthing with little to no problems and have a very good milk yield per lactation.
Breeding Period/cycle:	Usually lasts 6 to 24 hours Most ave. 12 to 16 hours Cows usually come on heat every 21 days.
Estrous cycle:	Ave. 17 days to 24 days Heifer – usually ave. 20 days Cows – usually ave. 21 days
Gestation Period:	Usually, around 279 to 287 days but most gestation is 283 days. Cows that are carrying bull calf’s their gestation period is usually a little longer than cows that are carrying heifer calves.
No. Calves/Litter:	1 calf at a time. Cows rarely have twins or triplets, but it can happen
Lactation Period:	Cows lactation period can last for up to about 10 months (305) days.
Milking From:	1 to 6 weeks after Calving
Drying off Period:	The cow should have a 12 to 14-month inter-calving cycle. Drying off period for around 60 days before she can calve again.
Milk Quality:	Good, Quantity: 2180 kg – 4.3% butterfat content per Lactation period
Milk Ideal for:	Calves, drinking, cheese, and various other dairy products
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CATTLE MEAT PRODUCTION INFORMATION

The Aubrac cattle breed are renown for the world-class flavor and tenderness of their beef. The beef has a high marbling, superb tastes, tenderness with a high bone to meat ratio with very little waste. This high meat to bone ratio makes for high kill-out weights also make for a consistent E and U meat grades ensuring excellent quality of meat.

Meat Production?

Yes, Quality: Excellent

CATTLE ⇒	VEAL	BEEF
Ave. Maturity Age:	6 to 8 months	9 months up to 4 years

CATTLE SKIN PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Most meat Cattle will have a skin by-product, and these are usually used in some form or just as a hide. The Aubrac cattle do have a good quality skin that produces high leather quality by-products

Skin Production?

Yes, Quality: Good

Skin is used to Produce:

Calf/cow skin leather products such as shoes, car seats, fine leather coats, gloves, handbags, belts, furniture, rugs, etc.

CATTLE ⇒	CALF	ADULT
Age they Produce from:	6 to 8 months for Calf skin	9 months + for Cattle skin 1 to 2 years old for Normal leather

HISTORY

The Aubrac cattle breed are quite an old breed of French cattle that originated in the early 19th century. The originated from the Plateau de l’Aubrac in the Massif Central. This area basically spans a few regions of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes and Occitanie in Southern France.

The Aubrac breed is a very frugal, robust, long-lived and fertile breed of cattle that can survive on the low-roughage or mountains regions. There are quite a few of them left and are not currently in any conservation risks statuses.

The Aubrac is said to have been bred by Monks in the region from which they originated with carefully selective breeding for the quality of meat, milk, hardiness and disease resistance.
A herd book was opened for the breed in 1893 and there was around 300000 head of Aubrac cattle recorded by the end of the 19th century.

With the rise of the dairy cows and consumer demand, the Aubrac is mainly used as a meat breed these days.

The first shipment of Aubrac cattle to be imported to the United States of America was in the 1970s, another shipment of the breed arrived in America in the early 1990s and then again in the mid-1990s.
Aubrac cattle breed came to America as an efficient superior foraging low-maintenance beef cattle breed. They were an effective alternative to grain dependent high-growth rate cattle breeds in some parts of the United States of America.

The Aubrac cattle are fast becoming a favorite for the American farmers wanting to improve on their herd’s genetics by cross-breeding with that of the Aubrac cattle in order to improve on their current herds.