Palmera cattle

The Palmera is an endangered breed of cattle from the island of San Miguel de La Palma, in the Spanish autonomous community of the Canary Islands. The cattle are not indigenous to the island, but were brought by European settlers in the fifteenth century. The Palmera derives from the Rubia Gallega breed of Galicia.[3] It is distributed mostly in the municipalities of Breña Alta, Breña Baja, El Paso, Garafía, Los Llanos de Aridane and Villa de Mazo, with small numbers in the municipalities of Puntagorda, Santa Cruz de La Palma and Tijarafe; a few may be found on the islands of Fuerteventura and Tenerife.[4]: 130 

Palmera
Near Breña Alta, La Palma, Canary Islands
Conservation statusFAO (2007): endangered-maintained[1]: 106 
Country of originSpain
DistributionLa Palma, Canary Islands
StandardConsejería de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Aguas (in Spanish)
Use
  • Formerly: triple-purpose, meat, milk and draught
  • Now: mainly meat
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    600 kg[2]
  • Female:
    400 kg[2]
Height
  • Male:
    126 cm[2]
  • Female:
    118 cm[2]
Coatfrom creamy white to soft red
Horn statushorned
  • Cattle
  • Bos (primigenius) taurus

History

The Palmera was brought to La Palma by European settlers in the fifteenth century. It is thought to derive from the Rubia Gallega breed of Galicia, in north-western Spain.[3] It is a triple-purpose breed, well adapted to the mountainous conditions of the island. Following the mechanisation of agriculture in the second half of the twentieth century, demand for draught animals fell sharply; there was also competition from imported beef and dairy stock.[4]: 129  In 1991 the population was reported to be 172 head.[5]

The Palmera was classified among the breeds "at risk of extinction" by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, the Spanish ministry of agriculture, on 7 November 1997.[4]: 130  A breeders' association, the Asociación Nacional de Criadores de Ganado Vacuno de Raza Palmera, was formed in 1999, and the Palmera breed received official recognition on 13 August 2001.[6] At the end of 2014 the total population was recorded as 596, of which 417 were female and 179 male.[7] A continuing threat to the survival of the breed is the progressive depopulation of rural areas and the movement, particularly of young people, to urban areas.[8]

Use and management

The Palmera is traditionally a triple-purpose breed, used as a draught animal and for milk and meat production; today it raised mainly for beef.[4]: 129  Many are kept as show animals, either to be shown at agricultural fairs or to participate in the traditional rural sport of arrastre de piedra, stone-dragging.[8]

References
  1. Barbara Rischkowsky, D. Pilling (eds.) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Accessed January 2016.
  2. Juan Ramón Hernández Gómez (18 August 2014). Reglamentación específica del libro genealógico de la raza Bovina Palmera (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial de Canarias 158: 22909.
  3. Raza bovina Palmera: Datos Generales (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente. Accessed January 2016.
  4. Miguel Fernández Rodríguez, Mariano Gómez Fernández, Juan Vicente Delgado Bermejo, Silvia Adán Belmonte, Miguel Jiménez Cabras (eds.) (2009). Guía de campo de las razas autóctonas españolas (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. ISBN 9788449109461.
  5. Breed data sheet: Palmera/Spain. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed January 2016.
  6. [Consejería de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Alimentación] (5 September 2001). ORDEN de 13 de agosto de 2001, por la que se regulan determinados aspectos en materia de libros genealógicos (in Spanish). Boletín Oficial de Canarias 117: 13885.
  7. Raza bovina Palmera: Datos Censales (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente. Accessed January 2016.
  8. Raza bovina Palmera: Usos y sistema de explotación (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente. Accessed January 2016.

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