The Bazadaise Breed

History

The Bazadaise (pronounced Baz-A-Day) originates from south-west France around the historic town of Bazas, where a Herd Book was established in 1895.

From the Gironde area through the lowlands of the Landes to the Haute Pyrenees (summering on mountain pastures up to 2400m), this former working breed with its hardiness and resilience, endurance to cold and heat, a seemingly natural resistance to ticks and flies, the Bazadaise is a proven adaptable and hardy breed. In 1989 breeding stock, semen, and embryos were first imported to England, Australia, Belgium, Spain and Holland and the breed has continued successfully ever since.

Nowadays the Bazadaise is very much a superior Beef Breed renowned for its grass finishing ability, mobility, extended muscle and ease of calving and is gaining a worldwide reputation for the fine flavoured low fat and well-marbled meat. In 1997, in France, the breed achieved the coveted 'Label Rouge' accolade.

Characteristics

Bazadaise range in colour from dark to light grey.   The eyes, muzzle and mucous membranes are pale and clear and hoofs are small and dark.  Calves are born a pale beige colour and remain so until about 3 months old. They have exceptional length with excellent conformation, good muscular development with a broad back and a well rounded rump.   A fine bone structure produces exceptional yields as a pure or crossbred.

Calving

Bazadaise make excellent mothers with more than 70% of the cows having a calving interval of less than 380 days. The calves are small 35 - 42kg, alert and mobile soon after birth. The muscle development becomes visible at 10 to 14 days.  These intelligent and easy to manage calves have much to offer the breeder seeking good genetics and consistent conformation with rapid growth rates, achieving  200kg at 4 months.

Crossbreeding

The Bazadaise has proved its worth on all breeds for beef production, with vastly improved conformation, weight gains and carcass evaluations.

A natural grazer, the Bazadaise is suited to any method of production with weights of 500 kilos achievable at 12-14 months.

The consistently high standard of conformation leading to higher carcass classifications has led to animals topping the market around the country, killing out at 63-67% at the higher end of the evaluation scale (E/U).

Use of the Bazadaise on the dairy herd, especially on heifers, is proving very successful.  From the Holstein, the calves are predominately black, becoming sought after as suckler replacements and the steers being marketed for good quality beef production.