A very old breed
The Camargue cattle breed, or raço di biòu, is mentioned as early as Gallo-Roman times. Raised semi-wild with no outside blood, it is thought to have changed little in two thousand years.
Portrait
Shiny black coat, lyre-shaped upturned horns: males stand about 1.40 m and females 1.20 m, weighing 250 to 400 kg. This lightness explains their aptitude for the course.
The manades
In 2015 there were 10,000 to 12,000 cattle in about a hundred manades (herds). The gardian looks after them. The meat has a PDO, ’Taureau de Camargue’, from the biòu and brava breeds: a dark red, lean meat, used in gardianne, a dish of marinated bull meat.
The word biòu
In Provençal, biòu means ’ox’; it refers to the castrated bull used in the course camarguaise.
Test yourself
What is the breed called in Provençal?
- Raço di biòu (answer)
- Manado
- Abrivado
What shape are its horns?
- Lyre-shaped (answer)
- Spiral
- Straight down
How much does a Camargue bull usually weigh?
- 80 to 150 kg
- 250 to 400 kg (answer)
- 700 to 900 kg
What is gardianne?
- A dish of marinated bull (answer)
- A dance
- A hat