The Villard-de-Lans, or villarde, is a French cattle breed native to the outskirts of the homonymous town in the Vercors mountain pass within the French Prealps. This wheat-colored cow was for many years used for agricultural labor, milking and meat production, before World War II and the industrialization of cattle breeds led to its decline.
From the late 1970s onwards, efforts began to save this breed. By the early 21st century, numbers were slowly increasing again. Today, the breed is mainly used for milk production and is one of the breeds authorized to produce the AOC Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage cheese.
History
Origins
The origin of the Villard-de-Lans is a controversial topic. Some link it to the now extinct Mézine breed, and thus to the breeds of the Massif Central.Jules Blache, Les massifs de la Grande-Chartreuse et du Vercors: Étude géographique, t. 2: Géographie humaine (Thesis for the Doctorate in Letters), Grenoble, Didier et Richard, 1931, IX-477, X-513, gr. In-8 (OCLC 715914576), pp. 299–308. It would then be the last representative of the southeastern blond breed, a variety to the blond et rouge breed, which is widely represented in southern Europe. However, only its color is similar to that of the Mezenc breed, which has a very different morphology.F. Rouault, Dissertation contradictoire résultant de la comparaison des races villard-de-lans et du Mézenc au concours régional du Puy, June 1905. For this reason, the Villard-de-Lans is frequently associated with animals from the Jurassic branch, that is, the ones related to the Jura Mountains. Some authors even state that it is the result of crosses between cattle from the Jurassic branch and Alpine cattle.André Sanson, Traité de zootechnie, vol. IV: Zoologie et zootechnie spéciales: bovidés taurins et bubalins, Paris, Librairie agricole de la Maison rustique, 1888, 3rd ed., 363-48 p., In-18 (read online archive). Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that the breed's creation is linked to the relative isolation of the animals in northern Vercors, a mountain chain in the southern Alps, whose main town is named after the breed. It was here that the population slowly settled down to develop their own distinct breed.Robert Fanjas-Claret, L'élevage bovin en Vercors : La race de Villard-de-Lans (Thesis), s.l., École nationale vétérinaire de Lyon (no 45), 1976, 80 p.
In the 19th century, cattle breeding was well established in the Vercors, particularly in the northern part of the mountain chain, in the Villard-de-Lans canton. By 1748, there were 260 oxen and 576 cows, whereas, in the southern part of the mountain chain, there were mainly oxen imported from the Vivarais region and very few cows. The high percentage of cows is linked to the importance of milk production in the canton, which is far less isolated than the southern part of the massif and therefore more suited to this type of activity. As a result, milk production developed strongly in the second half of the 18th century. Between 1748 and 1809, the number of cows in the communes of Villard-de-Lans, Lans-en-Vercors and Méaudre rose from 402 to 1,603.
The breed was first mentioned in 1832, when a Grenoble veterinary surgeon observed several cattle with similar characteristics grouped together, notably in the former Villard-de-Lans canton.Pierre Bernard, Le massif du Vercors et la race bovine de Villard-de-Lans (Thesis. 1953), Alfort, École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort (no. 16), 1955, 68 p., in-8° (ASIN B0018IEYBY). In 1862, a request was made to have the breed officially recognized. Following consultation with experts from the National Veterinary School in Lyon, a positive response was received in 1863, but official recognition was not granted until 1864.L. Laffond, "La race bovine de Villard-de-Lans", in France, Ministère de l'agriculture et Ch. Debono (préf.), Statistique agricole de la France, annexe à l'enquête de 1929 : monographie agricole du département de l'Isère, Grenoble, s.n. (Impr. générale), 1937, 352 p. (read online archive).
Rise The creation of the Villard-de-Lans breed corresponds to the development of the Grenoble urban area. The ever-growing population of the city and its suburbs consumed meat and dairy products from neighboring rural cantons such as Villard-de-Lans. As a result, cattle production took off in this canton, supplanting sheep and goats, which were reputed to be responsible for the erosion and disappearance of forests. Fruitières were built to process milk production.Gilles Della Vedova, "La création et le développement de la race villard-de-lans (xixe et xxe siècles)", in Généalogie et histoire locale (collective), Jadis au pays des Quatre Montagnes, Montbonnot, Communauté de communes du massif du Vercors, coll. "Les cahiers du Peuil" (no. 6), February 2006, 240 p., 30 cm (ISSN 1256-6314).
From 1864 onwards, the Villard-de-Lans was ever-present at competitions. That year, 153 Villard-de-Lans were shown for the first time at the Grenoble regional show, among 420 animals exhibited. The proportion of Villard-de-Lans entries increased steadily over time. In 1895, the breed was admitted to the national show in Paris, and a special section was opened in 1912. A special breed competition was also held in Grenoble between 1894 and 1914.Valérie Fouvez. During this period, the breed developed strongly, reaching 15,000 heads at its peak in 1943, of which almost 7,000 were bred in the Villard-de-Lans canton."La villarde " archive (accessed November 9th, 2009). "La villarde" (Archive.org – Wikiwix– – – What to do?).
Fall The breed went into rapid decline from the end of the Second World War, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it fell victim to German repression of the Battle of Vercors in the summer of 1944. The Germans devastated the plateau, stealing many of its resources, including livestock. It is estimated that around 2,700 animals, or almost a quarter of the livestock in the region comprising the Villard-de-Lans canton and the Vercors-Drôme, disappeared at that time. These animals were either slaughtered to feed the occupying troops, or exported to Germany to be bred as purebreds or crossbred with local breeds. In addition to losses directly linked to German kidnappings, farmers were forced to reduce their herds as their stocks and crops were destroyed. At the end of the war, the government tried to compensate for the losses by introducing new animals, notably French Simmentals, but these were little appreciated by local breeders and thus rejected.Peter H. Nash, "Le massif du Vercors en 1945: Étude sur les dévastations causées par l'Armée allemande dans une région alpine de la France et de leurs effets sur les traits géographiques", Revue de géographie alpine, Grenoble, Université de Grenoble, vol. 34, no. 1, 1946, pp. 87–100 (DOI 10.3406/rga.1946.5267, read online archive).
Although this marked the beginning of the breed's decline, losses during World War II were not the only reason for the drop in numbers. Agricultural mechanization also played a major role in the decline. The arrival of horses between the end of the war and the 1950s initially removed the villarde's function as a plough animal, but without threatening it. But the arrival of tractors in the 1960s posed a new problem. To justify their purchase, farms had to improve their productivity. As a result, farms began to expand and specialize in dairy production, often opting for the Montbéliarde breed, which is more productive than the Villard-de-Lans.
Ultimately, the decline of this breed, although well suited to both meat and milk production, was linked to the specialization of cattle breeds in the 1960s. Villard-de-Lans, which did not yet have a breed registry and had neither specialized in meat nor milk production, was no longer of interest to the authorities of the time, who preferred to concentrate their efforts on a few other high-performance breeds. As a result, this breed no longer received any subsidies, and its bulls were no longer approved for artificial insemination, leading to its rapid decline. Despite the resistance of a few passionate breeders, the region gradually saw the arrival of highly productive Montbeliarde animals, which sealed the fate of the local breed. By 1968, there were just 1,000 Villard-de-Lans cows left.Denis Chevallier.
To preserve the breed, a group of stockbreeders decided in 1967 to include the Villard-de-Lans in the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed registry. This breed is in fact quite close to the villarde in terms of its phenotype, and actually also originated from the combination of various breeds from south-west France: the blonde du Quercy, the garonnaise and the blonde des Pyrénées. The Villard-de-Lans would then have contributed its dairy performance to this specialized butcher's breed. However, the first crossbreeding campaign suggests a gradual integration of the villarde into the blonde d'Aquitaine, rather than a contribution to the creation of the new breed. These crosses marked a further stage in the breed's decay, and were eventually discontinued.
Protection The 1966 law on livestock breeding mentions for the first time the importance of protecting and safeguarding local animal breeds. Thanks to this more advantageous context, public authorities once again took an interest in the breed in 1976, at a time when its situation was critical and there were only around 50 animals left. The Institut Technique de l'Elevage Bovin (I.T.E.B), now the Institut de l'Elevage, took a census of Villard-de-Lans cattle in April of that year, before setting up a conservation program to try and save it.
A breed registry was created in 1978. However, despite the introduction of a conservation program, herd numbers stagnated in the 1980s, standing at just 136 mother cows in 1990. This was in fact a transitional period, during which the herd was getting younger and some older breeders were going out of business.Stéphane Barbier, Intérêts des biotechnologies de la reproduction pour relancer une race à faible effectif: la villard-de-lans (Dissertation), s.n., Isara Lyon, 1998, 40 p., 30 cm. From the 1990s onwards, efforts began to bear fruit, with 286 cows in 2000 and 358 in 2006.Laurent Avon, "Race de Villard-de-Lans – situation au 31 décembre 2006", Département génétique de l'Institut de l'Elevage, report n°010772031, July 2007, p. 15 A core group of livestock breeders has preserved the variety, and its revival is sought through the AOC Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage cheese, which has listed it among the breeds suitable for its production. After the 1980s, when numbers fluctuated around the one hundred mark, they reached 800 livestock in 2004,"BRG – Ressources génétiques animales – Base de données – bovins – race : Villard de Lans" (Archive.org – Wikiwix – – Google– What to do?). including 202 registered cows and 80 registered bulls. Around 80% of the females produce purebred cattle.
Morphology When the breed was first mentioned in 1832, it was described as "a strongly built cow, a good milker, of very advantageous size, also very good for ploughing, with a well-shaped body, spacious abdomen, well-developed pelvis, very voluminous udder and very ample dewlap". When the breed was made official in 1864, the commission of farmers charged with assessing the potential of the newly created breed drew up a more detailed description, which was subsequently refined on several occasions. Here is the 1914 version, published for the breed's special competition: "Uniformly wheat-colored coat of medium shade, free of white and black hairs; Mucous membranes of nose, mouth, anus, and vulva fully pink and without black markings; Well placed, fairly fine horns, whitish across their entire length, slightly upturned and a little darker towards the tip, pointing laterally; Well-developed toupet; Flat or slightly recessed forehead; Straight nasal bridge, more pronounced than curved; Long, loose mane; Slightly flat ribs;