Limonero
(most common name)

(local/other name):
• Criollo Lechero
• Criollo lechero limonero
• Criollo Lechero Venezuelano
• Río Limón
(local/other name):
• Improved Criollo
• Rio Limon Dairy Criollo
• Venezuelan Dairy Criollo

The Limonero began in the northwest of Venezuela in the state of Zulia around the rivers Guasare, Socuy and El Limón, to the west of Lake Maracaibo. A group of farmers began a cooperative program with the government in 1954. A herd of the best Criollo cows available was then established at the Centro de Investigaciones Agronómicas (Agronomic Research Center) in Maracay and selective breeding started. Limonero cattle can now be found in six states of Venezuela.

Since the 1980s, there has been a closed conservation Limonero herd that includes a lineage of Reyna cattle; semen and embryos are kept in cryopreservation.

Conservation herd Limonero can be:
• red (light and dark tones) with cream-yellow skin
• bayo (tan with black on face, neck and hindquarters) with black skin

Conservation herd coat color diversity is attributed to the founder animals having come from a number of different herds. About 90% are slick-haired, which is associated with:
• larger sweat glands
• a thinner epidermis
• shorter hairs

A slick-haired phenotype is determined by a dominant allele at the slick hair locus (this may also have lightened the skin color). Research (Landaeta-Hernandez, 2011) suggests that this is an adaptation of taurine cattle to tropical environments which is not present in zebu cattle.

Preliminary studies suggest the Limonero may have both trypanotolerant and trypanosusceptible individuals. Unfortunately, Trypanosoma vivax is now in South America and is transmitted by tabanid flies (horseflies).

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-18

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