Danish Red

Danish Red cattle, also known as Red Danish or Red Dane, are a major dairy cattle breed in northern Europe.^[1][2] There are 42,599 pedigree cows in Denmark. They can be used as a beef breed once they finish their useful lifetime.^[3]

Danish Red cattle

The breed

The breed was developed in Denmark based on local breeds bred with Angeln cattle^[4] from Angeln, Schleswig. Danish Red cattle (and, earlier, Angeln cattle) have been imported to many other countries and have been used to improve and form many local breeds,^[5] such as Lithuanian Red, Estonian Red,^[6] Latvian Red, Polish Red, Belarus Red,^[7][8] Tambov Red (Russian Red), Bulgarian Red, etc.

The solid red color of these breeds has helped in making them popular for crossbreeding in tropical countries^[9] with red Zebu dairy breeds like Sahiwal, Red Sindhi and Butana. They are good milk cows, yielding milk with higher butter fat and protein content than the Holstein Friesian does.