{{short description|Brazilian breed of cattle}} {{infobox cattle breed | name = Girolando | image = Meio-sangue.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = | image2 = Cinco Oitavos.jpg | image_size2 = | image_alt2 = | image_caption2= | status = {{ubl|FAO (2007): not at risk{{r|barb|p=144}}|DAD-IS (2026}: not at risk{{r|dad}}}} | altname = | country = Brazil | distribution = {{ubl|Brazil|Ecuador|six other countries{{r|dad2}}}} | standard = [https://web.archive.org/web/20250805191609/https://www.girolando.com.br/baixar.php?arquivo=608 Associação Brasileira dos Criadores de Girolando] (in Portuguese) | use = milk | weight = | maleweight = average 800 kg{{r|dad}} | femaleweight = | height = | maleheight = | femaleheight = average 146 cm{{r|dad}} | skincolour = | coat = | horn = | subspecies = hybrid | note = }}
The '''Girolando''' is a Brazilian breed of dairy cattle. It is a taurindicine breed, resulting initially from cross-breeding bulls of the zebuine Indian Gir breed with cows of the European Holstein cows.{{r|gmr}} The coat varies from black to black-and-white. Approximately 80% of the milk production in Brazil is from Girolando or other Holstein-Gir cross-breeds.{{r|cabi|p=188}} The proportions of the Girolando were initially established at 3/8 Gir and 5/8 Holstein.{{r|ct}}
== History ==
In rural Brazil in the 1970s, the average milk yield of dairy cows was less than {{val|1000|u=kg}} per lactation. Most dairy cattle were cross-breeds of European (''taurus'') and Asian (''indicus'') types, bred by natural reproduction – artificial insemination was little used; to maintain production, bulls of both types were required, placing a cost burden on farms. At a meeting in 1977 at {{langr|pt|Embrapa Gado de Leite}} – the dairy research station of the Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária in Coronel Pacheco, in Minas Gerais – the decision was taken to develop taurindicine hybrid bulls which might take the place of the bulls in use at that time.{{r|ct}} A breed association was formed in Uberaba in 1978, the {{langr|pt|Associação dos Criadores de Gado de Leite do Triângulo Mineiro e Alto Paranaíba}}, usually abbreviated to {{langr|pt|Assoleite}}.{{r|ct|ass}} A programme of directed cross-breeding, {{langr|pt|Procruza}}, was launched in the same year by the {{langr|pt|Ministério da Agricultura}}, as the Brazilian agriculture ministry was then known.{{r|ct|ass2}}
== Characteristics ==
The proportion of the two constituent breeds of the hybrid was initially fixed at 3/8 Gir and 5/8 Holstein;{{r|ct}} in the twenty-first century, the proportion of Holstein may vary from 1/4 to 7/8.{{r|ass3}}
== References == {{commonscat}} {{reflist|refs=
<ref name=ass>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251212013118/http://www.girolando.com.br/girolando/sobre-a-associacao Sobre a Associação] (in Portuguese). Vila São Cristóvão, Uberaba, Minas Gerais: Associação Brasileira dos Criadores de Girolando. Archived 12 December 2025.</ref>
<ref name=ass2>[https://web.archive.org/web/20260116070542/https://www.girolando.com.br/girolando/sobre-a-raca Sobre a Raça] (in Portuguese). Vila São Cristóvão, Uberaba, Minas Gerais: Associação Brasileira dos Criadores de Girolando. Archived 16 January 2026.</ref>
<ref name=ass3>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250805191609/https://www.girolando.com.br/baixar.php?arquivo=608 Nomenclatura Exterior, Tipo Ideal, Glossário e Padrão Racial] (in Portuguese). Vila São Cristóvão, Uberaba, Minas Gerais: Associação Brasileira dos Criadores de Girolando. Archived 12 December 2025.</ref>
<ref name=barb>Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20200623201209/http://www.fao.org/3/a1250e/annexes/List%20of%20breeds%20documented%20in%20the%20Global%20Databank%20for%20Animal%20Genetic%20Resources/List_breeds.pdf List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources], annex to: [https://web.archive.org/web/20170110125634/http://www.fao.org/3/a-a1250e.pdf ''The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture'']. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. {{isbn|9789251057629}}. Archived 23 June 2020.</ref>
<ref name=cabi>Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). [https://books.google.it/books?id=2UEJDAAAQBAJ&hl=en ''Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding''] (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. {{isbn|9781780647944}}.</ref>
<ref name=ct>[s.n.] ([s.d.]). [https://web.archive.org/web/20250623075202/https://www.infoteca.cnptia.embrapa.br/infoteca/bitstream/doc/594820/1/CT67Girolandoracatrop.pdf Girolando: raça tropical desenvolvida no Brasil] (in Portuguese). Circular Técnica 67. Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais: Embrapa Gado de Leite; Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento. Archived 23 June 2025.</ref>
<ref name=dad>[https://dadis-breed-datasheet-ws.firebaseapp.com/?country=BRA&specie=Cattle&breed=Girolando Breed data sheet: Girolando / Brazil (Cattle)]. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed March 2026.</ref>
<ref name=dad2>[https://dadis-transboundary-breed-ws.web.app/?species=Cattle&transboundary=Girolando&external=1&lang=en Transboundary breed: Girolando]. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed March 2026.</ref>
<ref name=gmr>H.M.S. Bicalho, C.G. Pimenta, I.K.P. Mendes, H.B. Pena, E.M. Queiroz, S.D.J. Pena (2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20170813180102id_/http://www.funpecrp.com.br/gmr/year2006/vol3-5/pdf/gmr0250.pdf Determination of ancestral proportions in synthetic bovine breeds using commonly employed microsatellite markers]. ''Genetics and Molecular Research''. '''5''' (3): 432–437. {{doi|10.4238/vol5.3gmr212}}. Archived 13 August 2017.</ref>
}}
{{Cattle breeds of Brazil}} {{bots|deny=Citation bot}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Girolando Cattle}} Category:Cattle breeds Category:Cattle breeds originating in Brazil Category:Dairy cattle breeds
{{cattle-stub}}