Latvian Brown

Latvian Brown cattle ( lett: Latvijas Bruna) is a breed of house cattle (Bos primigenius taurus), which has been bred for the purposes of milk and meat production. It is the reason race of 75 % of today's dairy herd in Latvia.

History

The history of the breed began in the late 19th century. In 1910 Pauli Lejiņš, the first president of the Latvian Academy of Sciences started breeding selection on the estate Luste in the landscape Semgallen. Milk yield and growth was improved by crossing the local land races with the angler Beef and Red Danish Dairy Cattle. In 1922 the breed was recognized. Over time, various other Red- breeds had been crossed. In the 1980s the population reached a peak of 141 700 cattle. Today there are only a few purebred "Latvian Brown ", which is why a "program for the conservation of genetic resources " was established.

Description

The cattle have a reddish -brown fur and smaller curved horns. This medium size beef has a strong bone structure. The withers is the bull 153 cm (weight: 1013 kg ) and in the cow 131 cm (weight 540 kg). The breed is easily satisfied under poor feeding conditions. The average milk yield is 3000-6000 kg per year. Maximum values ​​are 13000-14000 liters at 305 Melktagen year. Insemination and calving usually go smoothly.

Others

• The "Latvian Brown " is mapped to the Latvian Lati 2 coin.