Belgian Blue

For the blue bull native to India, see Nilgai.
Belgian Blue
Conservation status
Country of originBelgium
DistributionAfrica, Americas, Europe, Oceania
StandardHerd-Book Blanc-Bleu Belge (in French)
Usetwo types, beef and dual-purpose
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    average 1200 kg[3]: 127 
  • Female:
    average 700 kg[3]: 127 
Height
  • Male:
    average 148 cm[3]: 127 
  • Female:
    average 132 cm[3]: 127 
  • Cattle
  • Bos (primigenius) taurus
Belgian Blue bull
Cow with the scars from caesarean sections

The Belgian Blue (French: 'Blanc-Bleu Belge', Dutch: 'Belgisch Witblauw', both literally meaning "Belgian White-Blue") is a breed of beef cattle from Belgium.[2] It may also be known as the Race de la Moyenne et Haute Belgique,[4]: 95  or dikbil (literally "fat buttocks" in Dutch). Alternative names for this breed include Belgian Blue-White; Belgian White and Blue Pied; Belgian White Blue; Blue; and Blue Belgian.[5] The Belgian Blue's extremely lean, hyper-sculpted, ultra-muscular physique is termed "double-muscling". The double-muscling phenotype is a heritable condition resulting in an increased number of muscle fibres (hyperplasia), instead of the (normal) enlargement of individual muscle fibres (hypertrophy).[6]

This particular trait is shared with another breed of cattle known as Piedmontese. Both of these breeds have an increased ability to convert feed into lean muscle, which causes these particular breeds' meat to have a reduced fat content and reduced tenderness.[7] The Belgian Blue is named after its typically blue-grey mottled hair colour; however, its actual colour can vary from white to black.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference barb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference dad was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference mason was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Oklahoma State University breed profile Archived October 11, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ De Smet, S (2004). "Double-Muscled Animals". In Jensen, Werner Klinth (ed.). Encyclopedia of Meat Sciences. Vol. Encyclopedia of Meat Sciences. Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 396–402. doi:10.1016/B0-12-464970-X/00260-9. hdl:1854/LU-294762. ISBN 9780124649705.
  7. ^ Kambadur, R.; Sharma, M.; Smith, T. P. L.; Bass, J. J. (September 1997). "Mutations in myostatin (GDF8) in double-muscled belgian blue and piedmontese cattle". Genome Research. 7 (9): 910–916. doi:10.1101/gr.7.9.910. PMID 9314496.