Bestuzhev (cattle)

The Bestuzhev beef ( Russian: Бестужевская ) is a dual purpose cattle breed from Russia.

Breeding history

End of the 18th century, the cattle breeders SP Bestuzhev crossed a local Russian Landrace with Shorthorn cattle from England. In order to improve milk and meat quality were later Holsteins lowland cattle, again crossed with Shorthorn cattle, Simmental and some other breeds. Middle of the 19th century, the breed had established.

Characteristics

• Good fit to the continental climate of the Volga area
• Color: red in all shades, rarely white spots
• Race not homogeneous in type: meat and dairy type
• Medium size head, lightweight, clear-cut, long face
• Horns white and long
• Neck medium long, wrinkled
• Chest deep, well-developed dewlap
• Back straight, wide loin
• Legs not long, are far apart
• Udder medium size
• Strong skeleton
• Well-developed muscles
• Weight: cows 480-560 kg bulls 790-950 kg up to 1,000 kg
• Very good meat quality
• Milk yield 4300 kg with 4% fat

Breeding today

There are 13 breeding lines. Most Bestuzhev cattle are located in the Russian administrative districts Samara and Ulyanovsk and the Republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. 1980 was one of the breed 1,890,000 animals.