Estructura y diversidad de razas bovinas en Patagonia verde

Patagonia Verde is a territory of southern Chile shaped by a harsh climate and geography that highlights the requirement of highly rustic and well adapted cattle biotypes. Historically, Hereford and crossbreeding with Overo Colorado were used for breeding purposes but without progeny evaluations. The status of the herds and their purity are currently unknown. Thus, cattle and breed characterization are needed to breeding schemes. The aim of this study was to obtain information about distribution and structure of the cattle breeds in Patagonia Verde. The identification of breeds was carried out by direct observation of each animal and its racial descriptors. Animals of all ages and of both sexes were included, and those poorly differentiated or mixtures of different biotypes were classified as hybrids. A hierarchical agglomerative clustering analysis was performed in order to identify patterns in the herd structure. ANOVA and Fisher LSD tests were carried out to identify mean differences (P<0.05) in relation to the representation of each biotype and cluster. 233 herds and a total of 2,713 cattle heads were counted. The largest number of heads was recorded in Palena but the average herd size showed no differences between the communes. Regarding the biotypes, Hereford (24%) and Overo Colorado (18%) showed the highest frequency but we found a high frequency (37%) of hybrids throughout the territory. The herds formed four groupings (C1-C4), with C1 and C2 being the largest. They accounted for 95% of the total and were distributed through the territory but without a clear territorial differentiation of racial biotypes.