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The French beef cattle breed was bred in the Charolais region, which is part of modern Burgundy. According to the place of origin, the cattle was named "Charolais" It is not known for certain where the white cattle came from in those places. White bulls have been mentioned since the 9th century. At that time, Charolais were used exclusively as draft animals. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Charolese cattle were already recognized in French markets. At that time, Charolais was used for meat and milk production, as well as for draft animals. As a result of such a universal selection in several directions, large animals turned out from Charolais.
Initially, Charolais were bred only in their "home" area, but after the French Revolution, the farmer and cattle breeder Claude Mathieu moved from Charolais to Nievre, taking with him a herd of white cattle. In the department of Nievre, cattle became so popular that they almost changed their name from Charolais to Nievmas.
In the middle of the 19th century, there were two large herds belonging to different livestock organizations. In 1919, these organizations merged into one, creating a single herd book.
Since the task was not only to get meat and milk, but also to use the bulls in the yoke, the largest animals were selected for the tribe. French beef cattle are generally larger than the English ones. After the beginning of industrialization, the need for bulls as draft animals disappeared. The breed was reoriented towards meat and milk production. For accelerated weight gain, Charolese cattle were crossed with English Shorthorns.
Description of the Charolais breed
The height of a Charolais cow is 155 cm. Bulls can grow up to 165 cm. The oblique length for bulls is 220 cm and for cows 195 cm. The chest circumference of a bull is 200 cm.
The head is relatively small, short, with a wide forehead, flat or slightly concave, straight bridge of the nose, narrow and short facial part, round, white, elongated horns, thin middle ears with small hairs, large and noticeable eyes, wide cheeks with strong muscles.
The neck is short, thick, with a pronounced crest. The withers stand out well. The main thing is not to confuse it with a highly developed muscle in the neck. The chest is wide and deep. The chest is well developed. The back and loin are long and straight. The croup is long and straight. The bull has a slightly raised tail. Legs are short, set wide apart, very powerful.
Charolais cows are more graceful and in constitution resemble dairy breeds livestock. Most likely, this addition is a reminder of the versatility of the breed in the past. The raised sacrum is knocked out of the "milky" exterior. The udder of Charolese cows is small, regular in shape, with well-developed lobes.
The presence of horns can create serious problems in the herd when sorting out the relationship. In addition, often the horns grow incorrectly, threatening to stick into the eye or the bone of the skull.
The "classic" Charolais color is creamy white. But today the Charolais with red and black suits have already appeared, since the Charolais breed is often crossed with Aberdeen Angus and Herefords.
Productive characteristics of the breed
The weight of adult cows is 900 kg, bulls are 1100, the slaughter yield is up to 65%. Calves are born very large, on average 50 kg. Livestock gain weight quickly.
Charolais cattle are able to gain weight even just on pasture grass. But the animals have an excellent appetite and, when fed on grass, require significant grazing areas. In the absence of fat, the meat of the Charolese cattle remains tender, with a high taste.
Productivity of Charolais cattle of various ages
| Animal type | Slaughter age, months | Live weight, kg | Slaughter yield, kg |
| bulls | 15 – 18 | 700 | 420 |
| Heifers | 24 – 36 | more than 600 | more than 350 |
| Full-aged cows | over 36 | 720 | 430 |
| bulls | over 30 | 700 – 770 | 420 – 460 |
The main income for French farms comes from the delivery of calves to Italian and Spanish industrialists at the age of 8 to 12 months.
The dairy characteristics of Charolese cows are clearly exaggerated. Sometimes you can find data that Charolais cows give 4 thousand kg of milk per year. But this figure is not always achievable even in breeds of meat and dairy direction. More realistic are the data indicating the milk yield of 1000 - 1500 kg of cows per year. But even more likely is the fact that no one has seriously measured the milk yield of Charolais cows.
Charolais calves must remain with their mother for at least 6 months. At the same time, the maternal instinct is very well developed in cows. She will not let anyone near the calf and will not give milk to anyone except her calf. In general, the milk production of Charolais cows is of no concern to anyone. The main thing is that the calf has enough milk and it does not lag behind in development.
Pros of the Charolais breed
Charolais cattle have enough advantages to be bred in all countries with a developed meat industry:
- early maturity;
- fast weight gain on grazing;
- disease resistance;
- strong hooves;
- the ability to feed well both on grass and on grain fodder;
- the ability to adapt to any climate;
- the ability to give even larger offspring during heterotic crossing;
- the highest slaughter yield of meat per carcass;
- one of the lowest fat percentages in meat.
Only the meat of Frisian cattle contains less fat.
Cons of the Charolese breed
Along with the unconditional merits for which the Charolese cattle are valued in the world, it also has serious disadvantages:
- Charolais bulls are very aggressive. Cows, although inferior to them in the level of viciousness, are not much, especially if the cow has a calf;
- heavy calving. Due to the high weight of the calf, deaths are not uncommon in cows;
- a hereditary disease that causes heart failure in newborn calves;
- Charolais bulls cannot be used on smaller cattle breeds due to the oversized newborn calves.
To avoid such problems, as well as to obtain larger animals, they use the crossing of Charolese cattle with other breeds. Herefords are especially popular in this respect, since their calves are born small, then catching up in size with representatives of other meat breeds. In addition to Herefords and Aberdeen Angus, Charolais are crossed with a breed of cattle bred in the United States: Brahmins. As an American breed, the Brahmins have Indian roots and are members of the Zebu.
In the photo is a brahman bull.
Crossbreeding of Brahmins with Charolais was carried out so actively that a new breed of cattle has already been registered in Australia: the thyme.
To be included in the Studbook, a representative of this breed must have 75% Charolais blood and 25% Brahman blood.
In the photo is a wild thyme bull. The breed of thyme has not yet been consolidated by type.In it there are animals of both a lighter zebu-like type and heavy ones, more like a charolais.
Charolais appeared in Russia 15 years ago.
And in Ukraine
Charolais owners reviews
It is too early to talk about the opinions of the owners of Charolais in Russia or Ukraine. On the territory of the CIS, the Charolais is still a very exotic breed. But foreigners already have an opinion.
Conclusion
Charolais can be a great source of beef in Russia if cattle-breeding workers change their attitude towards this breed. In all Russian videos, Charolais is almost indistinguishable from dairy cattle due to protruding bones. Either they are confused with dairy breeds. Perhaps they do not take into account that the phrase "feeds well on grazing" means the presence of tall grass under the feet of the charolais, and not trampled earth with rare scraps of almost dead plants. In any case, private individuals will not be able to get themselves a Charolais for a long time because of the high cost of the breed and the very small "Russian" livestock.
