Iberian and Podolian breeds

A recent genetic study published in 2016, ranking 34 primitive cattle breeds by their closeness to the extinct aurochs, provides additional scientific backing to the Tauros Programme that aims to breed a suitable replacement for this lost species.

The researchers calculated the genetic distance between the analyzed breeds in comparison to the complete genome of the first ever sequenced aurochs (using a 6,700-yearold fossil). It was found that four of the breeds that play a major role in the Tauros Programme are in the top 10 of the list and six of our breeds are in the top 15.

The leading practice in the Tauros breeding programme so far – combining Iberian and Podolian breeds (Podolia is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central and south-western parts of Ukraine and in northeastern Moldova) with aurochs-like physical traits – is thus being confirmed by the combined results of the study. However, at this time the genome of only one specimen of the aurochs has been fully sequenced (autosomal DNA), so new additional information could lead to adjustments of this conclusion. It is therefore that the breeding programme still uses a rather wide variety of crossings (with the selected breeds).