The Limiana or is a Spanish breed of domestic cattle. It is named for the comarca of A Limia, in the southern part of the Province of Ourense, in Galicia in north-west Spain. It is the largest of the cattle breeds of Galicia.
It is one of the five Galician breeds that together make up the Morena Gallega grouping of chestnut-coloured cattle, the others being the Cachena, the Caldelana, the Frieiresa and the Vianesa, which with the Alistana-Sanabresa and the Sayaguesa of Castile and León and the extinct Verinesa also form the broader Morenas del Noroeste grouping of similar cattle breeds.
History
The total population reported for 1994 was 60 animals, 46 breeding cows and 14 bulls. At the end of 2023 the total population numbered head, with females and 288 males; the breeding stock consisted of cows and 52 active bulls.
Characteristics
The Limiá is the largest of the cattle breeds of Galicia: heights at the withers are in the range for cows, with an average of , and for bulls, with an average of ; average body weights are about and respectively. The coat is chestnut-coloured, darker on the forward third of the animal, the lower legs and the tip of the tail; there is a pale ring round the mouth. The eyelids and mucosae are black.
Use
This was in the past a triple-purpose breed, reared for draught work, for milk and for meat. In the twenty-first century it is dual-purpose animal, reared for meat and draught – even if its draught use has been almost entirely abandoned.
In meat production, calves are commonly sold for slaughter as yearlings, at weights of for heifer calves and for bullocks.
References
Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. .
Breed data sheet: Limiá / Spain (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed December 2025.
Miguel Fernández Rodríguez, Mariano Gómez Fernández, Juan Vicente Delgado Bermejo, Silvia Adán Belmonte, Miguel Jiménez Cabras (editors) (2009). Guía de campo de las razas autóctonas españolas (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino. .
Raza bovina Limiá: Datos Generales (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Archived 5 February 2025.
Raza bovina Limiá: Datos Morfológicos (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Archived 29 December 2025.
Raza bovina Limiá: Usos y sistema de explotación (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Archived 12 August 2025.
Raza bovina Limiá: Datos productivos (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Archived 5 February 2025.
Datos Censales (Limiá) (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Archived 23 May 2024.
Programa de Cría de la raza bovina Limiá (in Spanish). Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Archived 13 September 2025.
Valerie Porter, Ian Lauder Mason (2002). Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types, and Varieties (fifth edition). Wallingford: CABI. .
Luis Planas Puchades (foreword) (2019). Razas de Ganado del Catálogo Oficial de España (in Spanish). Madrid: Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Archived 28 August 2025.