Marinhoa

Marinhoa
Conservation status
  • Relatório Nacional (2004): at risk
  • FAO (2007): not at risk: 92 
  • DAD-IS (2026): at risk/endangered-maintained  
Other namesMarinhão
Country of originPortugal
Distribution
StandardDireção Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária (in Portuguese)
Useformerly draught, now meat
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    800–950 kg: 287 
  • Female:
    550–620 kg: 287 
Height
  • Male:
    150 cm
  • Female:
    140 cm
Skin colourpigmented
Coatyellow or pale brown, from straw-coloured to chestnut: 85 
Horn statushorned
  • Cattle
  • Bos (primigenius) taurus

The Marinhoa is a Portuguese breed of cattle. It originated in coastal areas of the former province of Beira Litoral, and in the twenty-first century is distributed in approximately the same area, now within the districts of Aveiro and Coimbra. It is broadly similar to the Mirandesa of north-eastern Portugal, but is larger; it may also have been influenced by the Minhota of the former province of Minho in north-western Portugal.: 239  In the nineteenth century it was known as the Marinhão.: 480 

History

The Marinhoa originated in coastal areas of the districts of Aveiro and Coimbra, which were formerly parts of the historic province of Beira Litoral; in the twenty-first century is distributed in approximately the same area.: 39  It is documented from the second half of the nineteenth century; an early description is that of the agronomist Silvestre Bernardo de Lima, published in 1870.: 480  He reports that it was found principally on two types of terrain: the gandra or scrubland; and the marinhas or coastal lowlands on the seaward side of the sand dunes – from which its name derives.: 480 

In the early twentieth century the cattle remained numerous; a census in the 1940s recorded a population of 24000 head.: 239 : 287  The breed had spread from its original area of distribution – the concelhos of Aveiro, Estarreja, Ílhavo, Murtosa, Ovar and Vagos – into those of Águeda, Albergaria-a-Velha, Cantanhede, Mealhada, Mira, Oliveira do Bairro and Sever do Vouga.

With the progressive mechanisation of agriculture in the years after the Second World War, the traditional uses of the cattle disappeared and numbers fell. A herd-book was started by the Direcção Geral de Pecuária in either 1986: 239 : 287 : 85  or 1988. A breed society – the Associação de Criadores da Raça Marinhoa – was formed in 1992 and later that year was officially approved to manage the herd-book.

Characteristics

The Marinhoa is broadly similar to the Mirandesa of north-eastern Portugal, but is larger.: 239  Body weights are normally in the range 550 to 620 kg for cows and 800 to 950 kg for bulls, with average heights at the withers of about 140 cm and 150 cm respectively. The coat is yellow or pale brown, varying from a pale straw-colour to a deep red or chestnut, with a pale ring round the muzzle; bulls are generally darker than cows.: 287  The hair round the eyes, on the tip of the tail, on the edges of the ears and on the dewlap is often black or dark brown. The hooves and mucosae are pigmented.: 287 

The average interval between calvings in cows is 472±133 days, and the average productive lifespan is 78.8±46.5 months.

Use

The Marinhoa was formerly a draught animal, used for a wide variety of tasks in the coastal lowlands and in the fertile valleys and estuaries of the rivers of Aveiro – such as the Antuã, the Cértima and the Vouga.: 39  It was used to work and seed the ground in the rice fields, to haul the moliço (seaweed) used as agricultural fertiliser, to power water-wheels, to haul boats and to haul in the nets in the traditional arte xávega, shore-based fishing with nets.: 39 : 287 

In the twenty-first century it is reared for beef. The meat may be marketed as 'Carne Marinhoa', which has European Denominação de Origem Protegida status.: 239 

References

  1. ↑ Luís Telo da Gama, et al. (June 2004). Recursos Genéticos Animais Em Portugal (in Portuguese). Vale de Santarém: Relatório Nacional. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 68. Archived 26 March 2023. Annex to: Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). 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. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 10 January 2017.
  2. ↑ 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. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Breed Data Sheet: Marinhoa / Portugal (Cattle). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed October 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Marleen Felius (2025). Cattle Breeds: An Encyclopedia. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004449015.
  5. 1 2 Valerie Porter, Ian Lauder Mason (2020). Mason's World Dictionary of Livestock Breeds, Types and Varieties (sixth edition). Wallingford; Boston: CABI. ISBN 9781789241532.
  6. 1 2 3 Marinhoa (in Portuguese). Lisboa: Direção Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária. Archived 18 October 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 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. ISBN 9781780647944.
  8. 1 2 3 Silvestre Bernardo Lima (1870). Alguns apontamentos sobre as raças bovinas portnguezas, III: Haças bovinas da Beira (in Portuguese). O Archivo Rural. 13 (1870): 477–482.
  9. 1 2 3 [s.n.] (2021). Catálogo Oficial de Raças Autóctones Portuguesas (in Portuguese). Lisboa: Confederação dos Agricultores de Portugal; Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária. Archived 19 January 2024.
  10. ↑ Bovinos - Raça Marinhoa (in Portuguese). Vale de Santarém: Sociedade Portuguesa de Recursos Genéticos Animais. Archived 17 January 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 A Raça Marinhoa Associação de Criadores da Raça Marinhoa] (in Portuguese). Verdemilho, Aveiro: Associação de Criadores da Raça Marinhoa. Archived 18 October 2026.
  12. ↑ Raça bovina Marinhoa – Avaliação Genética 2022 (in Portuguese). Oeiras: Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária. Archived 17 October 2026.
  13. ↑ Carne Marinhoa DOP. Qualigeo. Siena: Fondazione Qualivita. Archived 18 October 2026.
  14. ↑ Carne Marinhoa, dated 21 June 1996. Bruxelles/Brussel: Directorate-General of Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission. Accessed October 2026.