Meat · Breed · Short entry
Bazadaise
A grey beef breed from the Bazadais hills of the southern Gironde and the northern Landes. It was a draught animal in the vineyards and pine forests until the late 1950s. Interbev credits it with much of the reputation of the entrecôte bordelaise. With the Blonde d'Aquitaine, it may be used for the Bœuf de Bazas protected geographical indication.
Bœuf de Bazas and the fat-ox festival
The Bœuf de Bazas IGP specification (approved 20 January 2026) admits only animals of the Bazadaise or Blonde d'Aquitaine breeds, or crosses between them. Heifers must be 30 to 48 months old at slaughter, cows 36 to 108 months and steers 36 to 60 months; steers must be castrated before one year, and entire males are excluded.
The same document records the breed's working past. Bazas oxen hauled in vineyards and forests until the end of the 1950s and were fattened at the end of their working lives. In 1852 a lot of Bazas oxen won a prize at the Bordeaux market. Once machines replaced them, production became marginal by the early 1970s. It revived in the 1980s and is now limited to about 500 carcasses a year. Butchers still hold the Fête des Bœufs Gras on the Thursday before Mardi Gras. A 1902 newspaper quoted in the specification says the fête had been held "for more than nine centuries"; that age is local tradition, not a documented date.
How it connects
Breed
- related Blonde d'Aquitaine
