The Charolais bred cattle were believed to have originated in the country of Caarolais, located around the commune Charolles found in the eastern regions of France, where they are mainly bred mainly for their production of beef.
The breed was confined within this commune until the year 1773 when a cattle producer and farmer by the name of Claude Mathieu who was originally from the Charolles region of France migrated to the Nievre province of France during which he took his Charolais herd.
This move resulted in the healthy development of the breed due to the particularly favorable environment there which resulted in the bred to be popularly referred to as the Nivemais bred cattle for some time.
In 1840 a Count by the name of Charles de Bouille began one of the most influential herds within the region. This led to his setting up of a herd-book in 1864 for Charolais bred cattle found at Villars which was notably close to the Magny-Cours village.
In 1882 the breeders of the Charolles regions established their own herd-book which resulted in the merging of the two societies in 1919. The previously established organization founded by the Count was charged with the responsibility of maintaining the records of the newer founded group and the Nevers headquarters located within the capital of the Nievre province.
The Charolais beef breed of cattle are often recognized for their combined qualities when successfully crossbred with other breeds of cattle mostly including the Angus breeds originally from Scotland and the Hereford breeds which originated from Herefordshire England.
The Charolais bred beef cattle is often found to me muscular in its appearance with the typical bull having an average weight of over 1,100 kilograms or 2,400 pounds and the cows having a minimum of 900 kilograms or 2,000 pounds.
The French breeders have for some time preferred their bred cattle selection for muscle tone and size generally requiring rapid grown breeds that would ultimately result in larger sized cattle.
As such the Charolais bred cattle found within France are generally long bodied, horned often displaying a coarse body texture and are even found to have good dairy qualities.
With the ending of World War I a Mexican industrialist by the name of Jean Pugibet imported some French bred cattle to his Mexican ranch. After observing the Charolais breed during the War he was greatly impressed by their productivity and striking appearance.
This prompted his decision to import two bulls and 10 cows to his ranch in 1930 which was followed by an additional two shipments within 1931 and 1937 increasing his herd to reflect eight bulls ad twenty nine cows.
In the early 1940’s the Charolais breed cattle was introduced into the southern regions of the United States of America forming the first known herd in the United States.
The breed was adopted by several cattle men, breeders and ranchers as the most popular breeds within the United States since the introduction of the Brahman breed cattle. The Charolais cattle breed were noticed as the first beef cattle breed to produce beef consisting of mainly red meet and less fat.
The Charolais crossbred steers in the 1970’s won several acclaimed carcass and steer shows primarily held within the state of Texas and across many other states within the United States of America. San Antonio in 1971 held its carcass show which recognized the first Charolais steer ever to win first place.
Within the northern territories of Australia the Charolais cattle are one of the more popular cattle breeds and as such are mainly bred to be used in crossbreeding with other cattle to successfully develop the desired traits required by cattle men and ranchers.
The United States has also recognized the importance of crossbreeding of the Charolais cattle which has generally resulted in the develops breeds being used as a preference to the Hereford bred cattle.
Many of the Charolais bred cattle have been found to display an almost perfect white coat. The Canadian and Australian bred Charolais cattle however in addition to having possess this pure white coat have also been found to possess a lightly shaded red color which allowed these breeds to be referred to as “Red Factor” Charolais cattle.
Charolais bred cattle which have been successfully crossbred with the Brahman cattle are generally referred to as Australian Charbray cattle breeds.
This Australian Charbray has been found to comprise of 75% Charolais and 25% Brahman with the consistent hump normally recognized by the Brahman breed almost non-existent with the loosely fitted skin and notably enlarged dewlap hanging from the throat a strong indication of the presence of the predominant gene found in the Zebu or Bos indicus bred cattle.
Many of the American bred Charolais cattle depending on the percentage value of Charolais blood are often referred to as purebreds.
Cattle men and ranchers desiring to develop their herds have often found it possible to upgrade their current herds by using purebred sires and are thus required to register these sired used during the upgrading process.
The Charolais bred cattle has been often used within the United States cattle industry during a period when producers required a larger and heavy bodied bred cattle that the traditional breeds from Britain.
This saw an increased use in this breed specifically as a result in their natural ability to aggressively graze in warm weather, display a high tolerance to colder climate and produce heavier bodied calves.
Ranchers and cattle men looking to improve or begin their herds can find available seed stock of the Charolais breed cattle through the American International Charolais Association,
The Association houses the links for a number of ranches located within the United States including,
The 5J Charolais Johansen Family founded in 1988 and located in Syracuse Missouri,
The Hang’n A Cattle Company located in Pasco, Washington,
Amburgey Charolais Farm located in Mount Sterling Kentucky,
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