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The Hungarian Grey (, ), also known as the Hungarian Grey Steppe, is a Hungarian breed of beef cattle. It belongs to the group of Podolian cattle and is characterised by long lyre-shaped horns and a pale grey coat. It is well adapted to extensive pasture systems and was formerly raised in very large numbers in the Hungarian puszta. In the twentieth century it came close to extinction, but numbers have since risen.
From the Middle Ages until the eighteenth century great numbers of grey cattle were raised extensively on the plains of Hungary. Many were driven on the hoof by hajduk for hundreds of kilometres westward to the markets of cities in western Europe to be slaughtered for beef. The principal destination was Vienna, but others reached Augsburg, Auspitz, Nürnberg, Strasbourg and Venice. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, tens of thousands of cattle were exported in this way each year, and in the seventeenth century the number may have exceeded 100,000 per year. The trade was gravely disrupted by the Ottoman invasions, and for some time was also limited by a monopoly granted by the Imperial court to the Landverleger-Compagnia of Vienna in 1622.
Hungarian cattle are documented at Augsburg in a document of 1526. Another sixteenth-century document refers specifically to magnus cornuotes boves Hungaricos or 'long-horned Hungarian cattle'.
In the eighteenth century changing market conditions led to a substantial decline in this trade, and the cattle came to be used principally as draught animals, a purpose to which they were well suited.
In 1931 the Hungarian Grey Cattle Breeders' Association was established and encouraged the keeping and breeding of the cattle. World War II disrupted the efforts. There were only 160 cows and 6 bulls on three farms in the early 1960s. Around that time a patriotic interest in preserving local breeds emerged.
By 1975 there were only 300 cows left in two herds, but numbers have since increased. The rebound in numbers is partially due to cryoconservation efforts made by the Hungarian government. Government subsidies are available to breeders of the cattle. In 2003 the Hungarian Grey supplied approximately 12% of the locally-produced beef consumed in Hungary. It is distributed mainly in the counties of Bács-Kiskun, Hajdú-Bihar and Veszprém.
The coat colour ranges from silvery-white to ash-grey; males are usually darker than cows, with a black scrotum and eyes ringed with black. The skin is pigmented and grey. As in other Podolic breeds, the calves are born reddish and become grey at about six months old. The horns are long and curved and are directed upwards in a lyre shape; they may be some in length.
The Hungarian Grey shares with indicine cattle some genetic characteristics relating to including casein, and to amplified fragment length polymorphism marker haplotypes. It does not otherwise show any marked similarity to zebuine cattle.
Herds of the cattle function as a tourist attraction in the Hortobágy National Park and other Hungarian . Some may be found elsewhere, such as in Bocfölde in western Hungary. These herds serve as , due to their reported resistance to cattle diseases which affect more highly bred cattle types.
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