Creole cattle descends directly from the cattle brought by the Spaniards during the American colonization period.

Even though the first ones appeared in 1493, they arrive to our country in 1549 and from there starts a long evolution process where we can clearly see the concept of natural selection, provided by 400 years of adaptation to such different environments, as the Patagonia South up to North Canada, with the passage of a torrid tropical climate.

For three long centuries creoles provided milk, meat and leather all through the continent. Around the mid XIX century, they began to move at the expense of the British races, however, they were only possible in favorable climatic zones. So their new placement was the one they never lost, just because they were the only ones able to subsists and reproduce on time, in the most difficult areas of the continent.

The cattle production expansion was also the reason of great difficulties the British and European races had to adapt themselves outside the environment of the Humid Pampa.

Today, there are lots of pure Creole in several Experimental Stations of the INTA such as Leales, Chamical, Balcarce and Santiago del Estero, from where animals and genetics are transmitted to different breeders in our country, that permanently divulge the extraordinary qualities of race, either pure as in cross races.

Characteristics

The Creole cow has a medium size with an adult weight from around 400 to 440 kg. It has, as well as the male animal, all the bos taurus colors, which expresses their impressive genetic richness.

One of the most noticeable characteristics, and also the less noticed is her udder and milk capacity, doesn’t know mastitis and it's milk production is more than enough to feed its breeding and wean it with 50% of the mother weight at 6 months old.

Even though her body is angle shaped, the anatomic disposition of her hindquarters, makes the birth channel to be clearly open to give birth to her breed, with no knowledge of dystocia in this race.

Their longevity if over 20% compared to the British and European races, and we can find cows 15 years old, that give birth with no problems.

It is generally confirmed that they have the possibility to give birth to one breed more than the different races during their useful life. Their sanitary virtues are permanently at plain sight of the cattle breeder, their resistance to ticks and mites is manifest, while the keratin conjunctivitis does not affect them even being part of rodeos with other infected races.

As they had over 400 years of acclimatization to all kind of climates, is the animal with the higher capacity of marching. And in this case our experience is eloquent, when the British are found under the trees, the Creole will be eating even under the sun in the most torrid environments.

In the western Pampa mount, in the mid of January with 40° in the shadow, we find creoles 5 km away from the water hole.

The Creole bull will follow them permanently and tracing the ones on heat even in the most adverse conditions and the most rude thorny bushes.

Benefits

The producer that decides to incorporate the Creole race to his rodeos, will never dismiss them from his cattle situations.

This time we will again, resort to our own experience. Their easiness for child birth, insuring the absence of dystocia will allow the farmer to take the cow together with her calf to the mount again.

Then a question is present: What is the value you give to the fact of keeping the security of not loosing your effort and investment by the application of one golden rule: COW PREGNANT, CALF WEANED?

It is very difficult to see a Creole giving birth. Or she is still short or she has already given birth. Her capacity and maternal ability is immeasurable, we have no knowledge of abandoned calves. We have already mentioned that they wean their calves when they are 6 months old, with 50% of their mother's weight.

A special consideration has to be made to their docility. You can sit in the watering hole, together with the creoles that come to drink, with no fear, you can walk by their side in the most open environments, without any fear to cause a bolt, and even less an aggressive attitude, above all in mothers with weaning calves, state in which their natural docility is more present; this is manifest docility. Their rusticity allows them to adapt themselves to any environment and soil, we have seen them in Bahía Onelli, Santa Cruz Province and in Alaska.

The main importance of the hybrid vigor.

The new requirements of the rusticity provide the ideal answer with the use of Creole as an improved race. Really, in their cross with the British they produce an animal totally superior, with an noticeable hybrid vigor, with higher weight at the time of weaning, and meat production, besides of transferring all their virtues to the cross.

Fifteen years of work and compilation of information in the field by INTA Chamical in the Rioja pastures, are conclusive, and are mentioned in the following graphic.

Their meat rate, tenderness and juiciness were widely studied through different test made by INTA Castelar and INTA Chamical, compared to their British counterparts, results that are shown separately.

Finally it is important to mark that the inexorable advance of agriculture promoted by the worldwide demand of food and the unforeseen and unstoppable irruption of ethanol and biodiesel will produce a switch of cattle breeding to not only marginal areas, but to other sectors where the presence of cattle is just an anecdote.

Therefore it will be necessary to reprogram the concept of genetics such as it is today. It is very likely that the exhibition animals will not be able to give a satisfactory answer to the new needs of cattle breeding. Animals raised for generation in prolific pastures, abundant and nurturing have ceased to have their natural capacity to adapt themselves to an hostile environment.

Our goal is to raise and offer a cow able to be self sustainable and even get fat in arid, inhospitable lands, where the mount wins the landscape, an environment with a raining regime of 200 mm per year, an animal that drinks 8ms of salinity and, as if that weren't enough, by a handling specifically designed to this environment, that gives one calf per year with a genetic that allows a faster and efficiently fattening, as no other one, without loosing their quality.