Gyr (Gur, Gir)

These cattle are in my opinion the most versatile and productive both in meat and milk per hectare.

Temperament

The single most outstanding characteristic I have found with the Gyr is the temperament. They are extremely intelligent and very willing cattle to work with. You have to personally handle them to comprehend how placid they are, they are not just quiet.

Size

The Gyr is a medium to medium large animal, depending on whether they were developed in the Gyr valley region or in the surrounding mountain area.

Colour

They can be either spotted (very fine spotting similar to roan in shorthorn) or rich red with varying degrees of the two combined. The undercoat is always red. Even on cattle that may almost appear white, if they are scarred either by injury or branding the regrowth hair will always be red.

Conformation

They have a very fleshy body, being particularly full along the backline and not weak behind the shoulders as most of the Bos indigus cattle seem to be. The Gyr have the best shaped hind quarter of all zebu cattle I have seen, being reasonably long deep and full. The hind quarters do appear to be a little tight between the legs on some animals, but this seems to fill out as they gain condition.

The rump is sloping, unlike in Bos taurus cattle. This has been proven by Dr. Butterfield to have no significance to the flesh capacity. I also believe that this has a large contribution to the non-existent calving problems in the cows.

Head

An outstanding feature is their head. They have a very convex forehead (it has been suggested that this may have something to do with keeping their brain cool and hence reducing stress). The head is carried very low, even when fully raised it hardly comes up to the hump, similar to a buffalo.

Horn

They have an extremely thick and blunt horn, which is very slow to develop being hardly noticeable till about twelve months old. The horns are set well back on the head and grow in a swerve, back and up. Dehorning isn't a problem as there is virtually only a leathery pad present when young and if hit with a searing iron does not develop into a horn. The bulls horns grow to considerable size by about five years old, not unlike a buffalo horn.

Muzzle

Gyr cattle have a lovely full muzzle often characterised with a moustache of a different hair colour.

Eye

The eyes are a soft dark black type, very well protected from the sun and in fact the bulls often have to raise their head somewhat like a buffalo to look directly in front.

Ears

The Gyr again have a very distinctive ear being quite long and crinkly with the tip turned in, something like a dried up leaf. The ear is very mobile and they can use it to chase flies etc. from around their eyes and face. There is a very well developed muscle at the base of the ear for this purpose.

Feet

Gyr cattle have beautiful small black hard feet on which they stand straight.

Udder

The udder is often quite large but remains very well attached and usually teat size is average, but some of the very high milkers do have larger teats, not bottle teats. The udder comes well up the back as it does in rich milking Bos taurus cattle.

Sheath

The sheath is very tidy and light.

Hide

They have a fine soft loose skin.

Coat

They have a short, silky coat. Even mature bulls still have a soft coat.

Tail

The tail is long and whip-like having about five inches of cartilage just above the switch giving it much more flexibility and making it very effective chasing flies etc.

Agility

The Gyr are very agile cattle and can lick themselves over a large part of their body which enables them to physically remove some parasites. When serving cows the bulls put very little or no weight on the cows.

Parasites

The coat is very greasy from an oil that is secreted in the skin. This gives the animal a shiny appearance, but more importantly the parasites don't seem to like it and in fact it has been proven that this oil will render ticks infertile.

Another feature of zebu cattle which is vivid in Gyr types is the extra layer of muscle tissue just under the skin (like in horses) which enables them to flinch which can remove or discourage parasites.

Fertility

They are extremely fertile, frequently calving at 10 and 11 month intervals. I have had one occasion of a heifer calving at 16 months and having her second calf at 28 months but most heifers calve by about 24 months.

The bulls are very attentive and are often seen nuzzling and licking their cows vulvas.

Calf size

The calves are extremely small but very agile and bright, getting to their feet very quickly after birth.

Nutrition

The stomach of zebu cattle is longer and hence they are able to digest food much more thoroughly, in fact they require roughage in the same way as goats. This is possibly why zebu cattle only require about 2/3 of the protein than Bos taurus cattle.

Herd behaviour

The Gyr are very 'family', 'social' type cattle in that they spend a lot of time licking and camped touching and leaning on each other. The bulls tend to behave similar to stallions in protecting the herd and at mustering leading or herding the cows towards and into the yards. The whole herd protects the calves. They seem to allocate nurse maids and a large number of the calves stay together with them, but as soon as there is a disturbance the whole herd will gallop back to the 'nursery'.