Caoyuan Red
(local/other name in English)

(most common name):
• Red Steppe
(transboundary/brand name):
• Red Steppe
(local/other name):
• Chinese Grassland cattle
• 中国草原牛
local/other name (English):
• Chinese Red Steppe
• Grassland Red
• Red Colonist (obsolete)
• Red German
• Red Ukrainian
• Steppe Red
local/other name (Russian):
• Krasnaya Nemetskaua

Sometimes, the merry little path of cross-referencing leads to a stumble trail like this.

According to Cheng (1984):
“Steppe Red are F₁ and grade animals from Mongolian cows crossed and upgraded by Shorthorn bulls on the grasslands in the north (the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and Jilin, Liaoning and Hebei Provinces).”

According to Qiu, Ju and Chang (1991):
“Chinese Red Steppe...cattle are being bred as dual-purpose animals. In 1930, China imported dual-purpose Shorthorn, Brown Swiss and Anatayckas breeds to improve the local breeds in Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning and Hebei provinces.”

According to Felius (1995):
Cauyen Red “was developed in northern China by crossbreeding local Mengu cows with Dairy Shorthorn bulls, which were introduced from North America between 1920 and 1930.”

According to Longworth, Brown and Waldron (2001):
“...and Caoyuan Red (from the middle part of inner Mongolia and western Jilin Province), were developed in the 1980s.”

According to Mason (Dictionary 2002, 2020):
Caoyuan Red “originally from (Milking) Shorthorns (from USA) × Mongolian in 1920s and 1930s”, also “not Cauyen”.

According to Mason (Encyclopedia 2016):
Caoyuan Red “cattle originated from crosses between American Milking Shorthorns and Mongolian cattle in the 1920s and 1930”.

According to FAO DAD-IS (as of 2020):
Red Steppe (of China) are a “composite of Red East Friesian, Angeln and Ukrainian Grey, later also Swiss Brown, East Friesian: In 1930, China imported dual-purpose Shorthorn, Brown Swiss and Anatayckas cattle to improve the local breeds in Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning and Hebei provinces.”

So, some conflict.

Everyone agrees that in 1985, they were officially named, however:

• The spelling of ‘Cauyen’ used by Felius, appears to be incorrect. There is no translation for ‘Cauyen’ in Chinese or in general web search. The closest is Vietnamese (Cầu Yên = bridge Yen).
• 中国草原红牛 is the Chinese name and it translates literally to ‘China grassland red cattle’.
• grassland = cǎoyuán (Chinese with phonetic English spelling)
• caoyuan = grassland, prairie, steppe
• Qiu, Ju and Chang (1991) say that “the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries in China identified and formally approved the cattle breed in 1985, officially naming it the Chinese Red Steppe.”

But no one seems to be using that name, even China, because:
• FAO DAD-IS (as of 2020) only lists the name Red Steppe for China and lists only the following local/other names:
— Krasnaya Nemetskaua (Russian)
— Red Colonist (obsolete)
— Red German
— Red Ukrainian
• FAO DAD-IS (as of 2020) no longer lists the name Red Steppe for Mongolia.

It’s red and dual-purpose and in China. That is agreed.

There is no current population count for this breed in China.

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-15

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