Tux (cattle)

The Tux, Tux also beef or Tux Zillertal Cattle, Domestic Cattle is a breed that is particularly widespread in the Alps. It is one of the ancient breeds of domestic animals, which are being threatened today.

Appearance characteristics

The Tux beef has a black or strong reddish-brown coat with white markings on the pelvic area and the tail and on the lower abdomen and teats. The head is short and broad with strong horns. The body is compact, broad and strongly muscled. The legs are relatively short. The withers in bulls is 140 centimeters; they weigh between 800 and 900 kilograms. Cows reach a height at the withers of 120 to 130 inches and weigh fully grown 550-600 kilograms. Tux cattle are a frugal race, which were previously kept on pastures of the Alps.

Much like Eringer also Tux Cattle have a high potential for aggression, which leads to long battles rank among the cows. In earlier times was occasionally selected on pugnacity, which led to a decline in milk production.

Breeding history

The breed of the Tux cattle to be descended from the Eringer cattle. The breed was originally widespread in the Tyrol and has also influenced the development of other Alpine breeds. In the 19th century it was pushed back in favor of other, more powerful breeds of cattle and predominantly held only in the Zillertal. Tux cattle are involved in the emergence of a number of Russian breeds.

Today there are only 110-300 animals. Im Zillertal there since the 1980s, an association that is dedicated to the preservation of this ancient breed pet.