Central American Dairy Criollo
(most common name)

local/other name (Castilian):
• Aguacatero
• Cometuzas
local/other name (English):
• Central American Milking Criollo
• Costa Rican Dairy Criollo
local/other name (Nicaragua):
• Reyna
local/other name (Spanish):
• Criollo Lechero Centroamericano

The Central American Dairy Criollo is considered to be a variety of the Tropical Dairy Criollo.

Supervised by Dr. Jorge de Alba at the Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agricolo (Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences) at Turrialba, a breeding program to develop the Costa Rican Dairy Criollo was started in 1950. (Turrialba is a district in the Cartago province in the central part of Costa Rica.)

The breeding goal was to produce a dairy animal with the following qualities:
• high fertility
• a well-shaped udder
• well adapted to a local tropical climate
• resistant to parasites and many diseases
• ability to graze without supplements
• ability to survive the dry periods in the woods by foraging on leaves and sprouts

The Central American Dairy Criollo’s milk yield is good, however their lactation period is short.

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

You can also go to:

My Daily Cow® Costa Rica and read about other Costa Rican cattle breeds.

The Cow Wall® A-Z Cattle Breed Picture Reference to see other breeds of cattle in the world.