Blonde d’Aquitaine Cattle Breed – Everything You Need to Know

The Blonde d’Aquitaine cattle breed a pretty blonde color breed of cattle. They have elegant well-defined body lines with a long strong-boned face. They are a large breed that has a good quality of meat and are excellent foragers that can adapt their eating habits to just about any environment. They are fast growers, calm, docile and an easy to handle breed of cattle.

BLONDE D’AQUITAINE BREED OF CATTLE QUICK PROFILE OVERVIEW
Beautiful blonde’s that are a benefit to any cattle herd with their adaptability, low maintenance, and ease of handling.
Country of Origin:	France
Other Names:	Blonde
Main Purpose:	Meat
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Can be used for	Breed, Meat
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:	The British Blond Society and the American Blonde Association
Cattle Clubs:	Please refer to The The British Blond Society and the American Blonde Association for more information on the Blonde d’Aquitaine Cattle breed.
Where to buy them?	Please refer to The The British Blond Society and the American Blonde Association for more information on the Blonde d’Aquitaine Cattle breed.
Child Friendly?	Livestock should not be left unattended around unsupervised children
General Information:	The Blonde is a strong breed of cattle that were originally bred as a draft cattle breed. The Blonde gene that gives these cattle their beautiful color is not always the most dominant gene and sometimes they can give birth to calves of varying colors. There are some strains of Blonde cattle breed that are naturally horned, however, most of these strains are quite rare as the cattle are no selectively bred to be polled. Cattle without horns are more popular for many reasons in the cattle industry/farming.
Note: *ALC stands for American Livestock Conservancy

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Blonde d’Arquintaine cattle breed are a large breed with a compact muscular body long good-sized legs and a small well-proportioned face. They are very hardy and adaptive with excellent foraging abilities.

Size:

Large

CATTLE ⇒	COW	BULL
Breed Color:	Wheaton	Wheaton
Breed Weight:	1050 kgs	1400 kgs
Breed Height:	Unclear	Unclear
Horns:	There is a horned and polled variety	There is a horned and polled variety
Temperament:	Docile and easy to manage	Docile and easy to manage
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. They are not bred as milk cows but do produce a good quality milk that is efficient to wean their calves on. They are fertile, resilient, have easy births with little to no birthing problems. They are excellent mothers with very strong maternal instincts and have been known to aggressively protect their young.
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
Milk Ideal for:	Calves
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CATTLE MEAT PRODUCTION INFORMATION

They are well known for their feed efficiency to convert feed to meat. Their muscle growth requires a lot less feed than other breeds giving then a lean red meat production with a good marbling making the meat quite tender and succulent with little waste. They have a good carcass size and the calves have quite a fast growth rate under many extreme conditions.

Meat Production?

Yes, Quality: Good

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. Their hides are part of the by-products of meat production and is on occasion used for leather 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	1 to 2 years old for Normal leather

HISTORY

The Blonde d’Aquitaine cattle breed was developed in 1962 and are actually the result from the breeding of three cattle breeds. These breeds were blonde breeds of cattle from the south-western regions of France namely the Garnonnaise, the Blonde Pyrenees and the Blonde de Quercy breeds of cattle.

These three breeds that were crossed to produce the Blonde d’Aquitaine cattle breed were all primarily bred as draft cattle breed and were the offspring of the Limousin cattle breed.
The Blonde d’Aquitaine was the project of Raphael Tremouille who was a veterinary surgeon as well as a lower chamber member of the French parliament.

Efforts to improve the breeds meat production was started in around 1970 and today the Blonde d’Aquitaine is the third largest cattle contributor to the French beef industry. The breed has been exported to most countries around the world including most if not all the European Union, America, etc.