Vosges
(transboundary/brand name)
(most common name):
• Vosgienne
(local/other name):
• Race des Vosges
local/other name (German):
• Vogesen
• Vogesen-Rind
It has been thought that the Vosges may have originated from Scandinavian cattle brought to the Vosges Mountains in the early 1600s during the Thirty Years War (1618-48). However, there is stronger support for the idea of their being the result of crossing Swiss cattle with colorsided cattle from the Netherlands and Belgium.
The bulk of the Vosges population is in Alsace and Lorraine in the Vosges mountains — a low range in eastern France, near its border with Germany. The western side faces Lorraine (now part of Grand Est) and is gently sloping. The Vosges Mountains are separated from the Black Forest by the Rhine valley.
• 1922 - Vosges herdbook founded
• 1939–1945 - herdbook activities suspended
• 1947 - state initiative created for reduction in the number of breeds (preventing official recognition of the breed) and numbers fall
• 1977 - Vosges officially recognized
40% of Vosges breeders practice a summer transhumance system. Each year, bulls selected on the basis of pedigree and production index are used to inseminate 30 cows.
The Vosges coat can be black or red colorsided.
There were two noted varieties:
• Münster (Haut Rhin département)
• Bas Rhin (La Bruche valley in Bas Rhin département; smaller-bodied; disappeared late 1970s)
Vosges legend has it that the cattle are gifted with speech on Christmas night. But people no longer wish to hear them because once a farmer at Vecoux hid in his stable on Christmas Eve and heard:
“What will we do tomorrow?” said one cow.
“We shall bring our master to his grave,” sighed another cow.
The farmer fled and died that night. When day came, after the cows pulled a cart with his body to the cemetery, he was buried.
This page was last updated on: 2023-05-21
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