It’s hard to imagine an evening in the village without a glass of warm fresh milk and a loaf of fresh bread with sour cream. More recently, every village yard had at least 2-3 cows. Now times have changed, but farmers have not gone away and are actively supplying the whole world with delicious meat and milk.
Only the best breeds are selected for performance. In our article you will learn about the largest cows in the world, whose weight reaches up to 1500 kilograms. Almost all breeds are actively bred in our country.
Tagilskaya, 530-590 kg
This breed was bred back in the 18-19th century. In the Urals, local cattle were crossed with Dutch breeds and they noticed that the crossing had a beneficial effect on the structure and mammary glands. Thus, the Tagil breed was developed in several stages . Her weight is from 500 kilograms and she is short in stature.
The most common are black and black and white, but the color of this breed varies. The main advantage of this breed is its unpretentiousness to the environment. She gets along well in harsh climates and does not lose milk production. In addition, they are very easy to breed.
Mountain gorilla
Height – 100-150 cm, weight – up to 180 kg.
The top three are, of course, representatives of the genus of gorillas - mountain gorillas. They live in a relatively small area of the Great Rift Valley in Central Africa, at an altitude of 2-4.3 thousand meters above sea level.
Mountain gorillas have almost 30 differences from other species, but the most obvious are thicker hair and powerful nuchal ridges where the chewing muscles are attached. Their color is black, they have brown eyes with a black iris frame.
They live mainly on the ground, moving on four powerful legs, but are able to climb trees, especially teenagers. They feed on plant foods, with leaves, bark and grass making up most of the diet. An adult male is capable of eating 30 kg of vegetation per day, while the appetite of females is more modest - up to 20 kg.
Anglerskaya, 550 kg
This breed comes from Germany. Her characteristics include those of Angelns and Shorthorns. The former have good milk productivity, while the latter are intended for meat production.
These animals have proven themselves to be excellent producers of milk and meat. They are bred not only in Germany, but also in America and Russia.
Their color is red or cherry. It is the Angler cow that is considered the best in the world for the quality of its hide. The weight of a cow reaches 550 kilograms, and a bull weighs twice as much.
Yak
Representatives of the breed cannot boast of being tall, but their body length reaches 3.8 m. The weight of an adult animal is equal to a ton. Yaks belong to domestic bulls, although they are strikingly different from them in appearance. Their body is covered with long hair, there are horns and a hump. Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Tibet - this is the habitat of bulls. Yaks are used as transport, they are ridden and carried goods. Bulls are hardy and not afraid of heights. Local residents often take them to the mountains.
Black and white, 650 kg
This is the color that can most often be seen on TV or in illustrations of children's books. They are classified as purebreds. Such cows are divided into two types: black-and-white of the Urals and black-and-white of Siberia . Milk productivity of the second type is several times higher than that of the Ural.
These cows are perfectly acclimatized to any living conditions, and they also have excellent health, which is why they are most valued. But despite all this, they are very demanding in their conditions of detention, so they need to be looked after more carefully and carefully.
Buffaloes
The animals are very large: their height is about 3 m, their shoulder width is up to 2 m. Bulls weigh more than a ton. Buffaloes differ from other representatives by having the largest horns. Bone growths reach 2 m. The habitat of the animals is Thailand, Vietnam, India. African representatives are famous for their body height (up to 2 m); Indian bulls boast the longest horns. Buffaloes are very aggressive. Even large predators are afraid of them. Bulls graze in herds, so you can easily become their victim. Moving in flocks, they plow the land, thereby benefiting agriculture.
Large bulls are most often the result of selection. They are valued for their endurance, performance, and ability to adapt to difficult conditions.
Limousinskaya, 700 kg
This breed takes a well-deserved place in the rankings of the largest cows. The meat of the Limousin cow is traditionally considered the most delicious. It originally comes from France and is still grown there. It received this name because of the area in France where cattle were first bred.
Australians and Latin Americans have also succeeded in breeding Limousin cows. The color of cows can be several shades of golden brown and red. There is a single herd of Limousin cows that are colored black. Cows grow up to 700 kilograms, which makes them a serious item in the export of meat products.
Queen of Rio
Dorset is one of the small English Channel counties located in Southern England. Its capital is the city of Dorchester with a population of less than a million people. It would seem, how can an ordinary rural region of the country differ from all the others? But it is in Dorset that a giant cow “queen” named Rio lives. The size of this animal is impressive: its height reaches 1.8 meters, and its weight ranges between 1.5 tons.
Everyone who has ever encountered Rio says that one look at her is enough to get scared. In addition, as the owners of this Holstein beauty note, Rio has an extremely difficult character. She often shows aggression towards people. The cow feeds three times a day, and anyone who stands between her and the feeder risks falling under the hoof of this angry pest.
At the moment, Rio ranks second among the largest representatives of its species, giving way only to Blossom, the giant American cow. It is noteworthy that she also failed to have her own offspring.
Holstein, 700 kg
This breed was developed in the 19th century in the USA, but it gained popularity in many other countries. It is distinguished from others not only by its high milk production, but also by its large size. Also, many who raise cows for meat use the Holstein breed , its weight reaches 700 kilograms.
The ancestors of this cow were representatives of black-and-white cattle. This breed is easy to distinguish by its external features. Cows are black and white, and the ratio of white to black can be completely different.
These cows are very clean, but at the same time adapt to different living conditions. In Israel, they achieved the maximum performance of this breed in the whole world, all thanks to the balance of content.
Weighing methods
Breeding rams (sheep) involves individual assessment of their productive and breeding characteristics on a regular basis. As part of the assessment manipulations, the animal’s compliance with a set of established traits is monitored, which includes monitoring weight gain.
Control of the weight parameters of a ram is one of the main points that make up the list of rules for their breeding. Tracking growth progress is necessary to determine the cost-effectiveness of maintenance. Analysis of the weight gain graph allows you to find out the ratio of costs associated with feeding, ensuring proper living conditions and material profit, which includes covering the corresponding costs.
To determine the weight of a ram, certain equipment or a special calculation formula can be used to find the approximate value of this indicator. The second option is among the most preferred for mid-level farmers. This is due to the absence of the need to purchase expensive weighing equipment, incur costs associated with its installation and configuration, and other related factors.
The main measurement parameter is the size of the animal's chest circumference. Measurements are taken behind the front legs and shoulder blades. The tension of the measuring tape is of great importance, since hair can interfere with the accuracy of the measurement.
The obtained value is used as one of the variables in the formula for calculating the live weight of the ram. There are many such formulas, which increases the spread of calculation accuracy and reduces the efficiency of measurement manipulations. Given this, most farmers use a special measuring tape. It contains metric parameters and weight values corresponding to these parameters. The numbers indicating the mass of the animal can be supplemented with several values corresponding to the weight characteristics of different breeds of sheep. The belonging of a particular numerical name to a suitable numerical column is indicated by the corresponding color.
Bestuzhevskaya, 800 kg
This is one of the oldest domestic breeds. She was bred back in 1780. The breed received this name due to the name of the breeder. The breed was approved only in 1869. They have several shades of red and cherry color. According to the constitution, they are very well developed. Weight from 500 to 800 kilograms.
Most of all, the Bestuzhev breed is bred in the Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as in Bashkiria. Such cows are very unpretentious both in living conditions and in food.
Due to their hardiness, they are resistant to many diseases. This is a very popular breed of cow in Russia for both milk and meat production.
Advantages of miniature vechurs
Small cows of the Vechur breed are widespread in India. They grow to about a meter in height and gain no more than 200 kg. It is customary to give these animals to newlyweds as a wedding gift.
Now the population of miniature cattle is under protection; just a few years ago the breed was on the verge of extinction. In India, large donations are made for the maintenance and breeding of Vechurs.
Indian short cows have many advantages in terms of animal husbandry:
- long life expectancy;
- unpretentiousness and adaptability to tropical climates;
- good health;
- valuable milk with medicinal properties (up to 4 liters per day);
- undemanding to feed;
- easy calving and almost 100% survival rate of calves;
- concentrated manure as a useful fertilizer.
Kostromskaya, 800 kg
Compared to imported breeds, Kostroma is less productive, but it is the one most often chosen by Russian farmers due to its adaptability to the local climate.
In the 19th century, experiments began to be conducted in the Kostroma region to increase the productivity of cattle. After much experimentation, scientists were able to bring the cows to acceptable levels. And in 1940, the Kostroma breed began to be supplied outside the region.
The Kostroma breed has several features that are unique to it. The character can be any. Different farmers speak differently about this breed. Some say that they are calm, while others, on the contrary, consider them violent and restless.
The biggest cow in the world
Despite the impressive size of the Winkers cow, she is not the largest in the world. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world record for the largest cattle is an animal weighing 2,267 kilograms and just over two meters long. It became Chianina in 2010 at an exhibition in Rome.
Recently, the entire Internet was touched by the story of an unusual friendship between a buffalo and a man. The Thai farmer and the animal do everything together, delighting users on social networks with cute, “family” photos. The man even had to fight for his new friend when his real owner wanted to take him away. Money for the purchase of a buffalo was collected by everyone on Facebook.
Before this, a resonant incident occurred in Australia. The farm owner purchased a small number of geese, almost immediately regretting her decision. Inadequate birds have turned the life of family and neighbors into a real nightmare. First of all, the weight of an animal is influenced by its breed. Thus, representatives of dairy breeds will weigh slightly less than cows from the meat group.
Burenki are record holders not only based on the amount of milk. Today, such animals compete in weight, height and even appearance.
Therefore, the weight of small breed groups rarely exceeds 300-350 kg, but cows belonging to a large breed group can reach a weight of 800 kg. An important indicator is the age of the animal. It is quite natural that the weight of a young healthy cow will differ significantly from that of a calf or an older lady.
Montbeliardskaya, 600-820 kg
A very beautiful and graceful breed of cows. They produce a high-quality dairy product for quite a long time and their weight can reach 820 kilograms.
Cattle breeders in Switzerland and France have set themselves the goal of creating an unpretentious and hardy breed of cows with high productivity. They started in the 18th century, they managed to get a cow with all the necessary qualities only a century later.
In 1889, the Montbéliarde cow . Among all its relatives, this breed is considered the most elegant and therefore they take it to appear in videos about milk.
Dutch, 600-1000 kg
This cow is considered one of the oldest and most productive. It is already more than three hundred years old. She was bred in Holland and is a purebred. Thanks to her, new breeds of cows were improved and even formed.
The Dutch breed is found all over the world; it came to Russia during the reign of Peter the Great. It is distinguished by its black and white coloring with a characteristic belt. It grows up to 600 and even 1000 kilograms.
The advantages of this breed are not only that they quickly adapt to any climatic conditions, they are the most productive in terms of milk and meat. They are also early maturing breeds.
But there are also several disadvantages of keeping a Dutch cow, for example, they are susceptible to various infectious diseases.
Slavic record holders
A Ukrainian celebrity named Repp is also one of the largest bulls in the world. Repp now weighs 1,500 kg and is functioning perfectly as a stud bull. His offspring are several tens of thousands of calves every year. Insemination is carried out exclusively by artificial means, because the Repp bull has a bad character: jealous, touchy and unpredictable. Even in the absence of horns, which had to be cut down so that one could even approach the giant, Repp looks very intimidating.
The largest weight in Russia belongs to a bull named Danube. He is also almost two meters tall and weighs 1250 kg. Danube is a Ural breeding Hereford bull, raised in the Chelyabinsk region. His offspring can set new records, because there are calves that gain 2 kg per day.
Hereford, 800-1500 kg
Rounding out our list is a real heavyweight - the Hereford cow . Its weight can reach up to 1500 kilograms. It was developed in England back in the 17th and 18th centuries. Hereford cattle are raised in New Zealand, Canada, USA, Australia, and Kazakhstan.
Cows were first brought to Russia in 1928-1932 from England and Uruguay. Now in the country the Hereford breed ranks second among meat breeds. Their mother can only be dark red, so they are easy to distinguish from other breeds.
At birth, calves weigh up to 30 kilograms. The meat is “marbled” and high in calories, and is very expensive. Such cattle mature quickly and easily adapt to any conditions. Hereford meat is considered one of the best for making steaks.
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England - the birthplace of giants
One of the Kingswood cattle farms in England proudly shows tourists its record contender - the black and white Trigger. Four meters in length, almost two in height - these are not the final parameters of a Fresian bull. Fate, in the person of a neighbor who did not allow a young bull to be used for meat, gave him a long life and great glory.
The Fern Animal Shelter is also famous for its cloven-hoofed pets. Found as a six-day-old calf, this Fresian foundling named Chili gained 1,300 kg in weight and reached a height of two meters. These are the numbers that make up his world record for 1999. The giant's horns were cut off just in case, although his character is calm and peaceful. Even outwardly, Chile looks like a huge cow.
