Girolando
Brazilian breed of cattle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Girolando is a Brazilian breed of dairy cattle. It is a taurindicine breed, resulting initially from cross-breeding bulls of the zebuine Indian Gir breed with Holstein cows of European origin.[4] The coat varies from black to black-and-white. Approximately 80% of the milk production in Brazil is from Girolando or other Holstein-Gir cross-breeds.[5]: 188 The proportions of the Girolando were initially established at 3/8 Gir and 5/8 Holstein.[6]
- Brazil
- Ecuador
- six other countries[3]
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| Country of origin | Brazil |
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| Standard | Associação Brasileira dos Criadores de Girolando (in Portuguese) |
| Use | milk |
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History
In rural Brazil in the 1970s, the average milk yield of dairy cows was less than 1000 kg per lactation. Most dairy cattle were cross-breeds of European (taurus) and Asian (indicus) types, bred by natural reproduction – artificial insemination was little used; to maintain production, bulls of both types were required, placing a cost burden on farms. At a meeting in 1977 at Embrapa Gado de Leite – the dairy research station of the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária in Coronel Pacheco, in Minas Gerais – the decision was taken to develop taurindicine hybrid bulls which might take the place of the bulls in use at that time.[6] A breed association was formed in Uberaba in 1978, the Associação dos Criadores de Gado de Leite do Triângulo Mineiro e Alto Paranaíba, usually abbreviated to Assoleite.[6][7] A programme of directed cross-breeding, Procruza, was launched in the same year by the Ministério da Agricultura, as the Brazilian agriculture ministry was then known.[6][8]
Characteristics
Use
The cattle are reared for milk. The milk yield per lactation ranges from 2625 to 7791 kg, with an average of 5208 kg; the average milk yield per day is 17 kg. On average, cows come into milk six times in a lifetime; lactations vary in length from 155 to 385 days, with an average of 270.[2] The fat content varies from 3.7% to 4.0%, with an average of 3.9%.[2]
