Hybrid Animals as Food: You Can't Eat Just One . . . Breed

Cattle hybrids were often bred in an attempt to create an animal that was easy to raise and hardier then domestic cattle. These animals have been bred since at least 1847, though may have occurred before that. As modern technology has added to many farmers and made it easier for cattle to survive weather, many of these animals continue to be bred for specialty meats, hard labor in underdeveloped countries, and for the interest that they provide visitors.

Iron Age Pig

While this isn't a cattle hybrid, it has become one of the fanciest specialty sausages around. The Iron Age pig is a hybrid between a domestic Tamworth pig and a wild boar creating a pig that very much looks like early domestic swine. Tamworths are considered an unimproved breed, however when bred with wild boars, their offspring can be very profitable. Specialty sausages and other pork and ham products are available at a price. These animals are also very popular in petting zoos and farms. Their wild look makes them an interesting site to see.

Cattleo

The term Cattleo is one that isn't standard world wide. In the United States a Cattleo is a cross between the American Bison (Buffalo) and a domestic cow or bull. However, once the offspring of such crosses has only 3/8 Bison genes it is then a Beefalo. Beefalo are legal for anyone to own, whereas Cattleo are considered wild animals and are subject to licensing. Other countries don't necessarily have this separation. Many countries consider all of them to be either Beefalos or Cattleos.

These crosses first began in the 1800's for the purposes of strengthening the cattle herds. The idea was that the hybrid cattle would be stronger and able to endure poor foraging conditions and bad weather. It was true, but breeding the two animals proved harder then at first believed. It also required that you maintain a buffalo herd. This was a tough task for the average farmer and efforts were eventually abandoned.

As time passed it was discovered that Beefalo, consisting of 3/8 bison and 5/8 cattle genetics, had many benefits. These animals are often fertile, even to the point of being easier to bear then cattle, they are good mothers, they have a longer productive life, a higher lean-to-fat ratio, hardiness, disease resistance, ability to transfer reasonably poor forage to good quality meat, and they are as easy to manage as other cattle. The fact that they produce good quality lean beef as made the market for these animals grow rapidly in recent years.

Buffalo and Cattle will breed. Offspring is much easier to produce artificially and following some basic understandings that have happened over the last 150 years of breeding. The offspring produced by the two is usually fertile, at a rate similar to both animals. This suggests that the two are subspecies rather then species.

However, breeding programs, accidental breeding, and crossing have set back the American Buffalo conservation efforts. At one time there were millions of buffalo that roamed the lands. Now the population is about 350,000 and only four herds are not tainted by cattleo and beefalo crosses. This isn't a good sign for the buffalo population.

Dzo or Yakow

The Dzo or Yakow is popular in Central Asia. It is here that they breed yaks and cows to produce the Yakow, which they call a Dzo. The Yakow is much more sturdy then the average cow. This makes this animal good for hauling heavy materials and doing physical labor much as the ox was used in the United States. It is also said to have superior meat.

Yakalo

A Yakalo is the hybrid offspring of an American Buffalo (Bison) with a yak. These animals are considered wild in the United States and require special certification to own. However, they are becoming more and more popular for their appearance in petting farms and for their meet. They also have a low fat to protein content.

Zubron

The Zubron is the offspring of a domestic cow that has been bred with a Wisent (the European Bison). They have been bred in Europe since the 1800's, but became really popular after World War I. It was then that they were considering replacing cattle with the Zubron in the hopes of having a healthier and more resilient herd. Most breeding efforts of this animal were abandoned in the 1980's, though a few still stand selling specialty meats. The males are infertile in the first generation. The females can be bred back to either parent species and any second generation males are fertile proving to be able to breed back to a Zubron female of any generation.

Whatever you want to call these hybrid animals, more and more people are calling them dinner. This raises issues about creating species and about the morals behind hybridization of animals. However, it is unlikely that these animals will stop being bred as long as they are worth a great deal of money in the specialty meat market.