The Dutch Improved Red Pied, Dutch: Verbeterd Roodbont, is a recently-developed Dutch breed of beef cattle.[5]: 172 It derives from the dual-purpose Meuse-Rhine-Issel breed, and is characterised by a high incidence of the double-muscling gene. A breed association was started in 1988.[5]: 172 [4]
| Conservation status | |
|---|---|
| Other names | |
| Country of origin | Netherlands |
| Standard | Verbeterd Roodbont Vleesvee Stamboek |
| Use | beef |
| Traits | |
| Height |
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History
editThe Dutch Improved Red Pied derives from the Meuse-Rhine-Issel, a dual-purpose breed reared both for milk and for beef. The muscular hyperplasia known as double muscling was first observed in that breed in 1937, but because of the associated dystocia was regarded as undesirable or as a defect.[5]: 172 With the greater availability of antibiotics in the years after the Second World War, it became possible to deliver calves by Caesarian section, and from the 1960s semen from double-muscled Meuse-Rhine-Issel bulls became available for artificial insemination. Selection of these animals for beef production alone led to the creation of the Verbeterd Roodbont, for which a breed association was started in 1988.[5]: 172 [4]
In the twenty-first century, a research project aimed to reduce the proportion of births requiring delivery by Caesarian section to less than half by 2020.[5]: 172
In 2006 there were about 8000 of the cattle in the hands of approximately 200 breeders, and in 2007 the conservation status of the breed was listed by the FAO as 'not at risk'.[1]: 82 In 2019 the total number was reported to DAD-IS as 700–900, and the conservation status listed as 'at risk'/'endangered-maintained'.[2]
Characteristics
editThe cattle are red pied and of medium size. Increased size is one of the aims of selection in the breed; breeding bulls should reach a height at the withers of at least 133 cm by the age of three.[5]: 172
References
edit- ^ a b Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
- ^ a b c Breed data sheet: Verbeterd Roodbont / Netherlands (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed June 2022.
- ^ Marleen Felius (1995). Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia. Doetinchem, Netherlands: Misset. ISBN 9789054390176.
- ^ a b c Breed description: Improved Red and White. Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. Archived 15 October 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.