page_title: Spanish Fighting Bull
section_title: Growth
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish Fighting Bull / Breed characteristics / Growth
caption_attribution_description: Español: Campo Charro. Salamanca. Toros de lidia. Dehesa
context_page_description: The Spanish Fighting Bull is an Iberian heterogeneous cattle population. It is exclusively bred free-range on extensive estates in Spain, Portugal, France and Latin American countries where bull fighting is organized. Fighting bulls are selected primarily for a certain combination of aggression, energy, strength, and stamina. During the breeding, in order to preserve their natural characteristics, the bulls rarely encounter human beings, and if ever, never on foot.
context_section_description: Fighting cattle are bred on wide-ranging ranches in Spain's dehesas, which are often havens for Spanish wildlife as the farming techniques used are extensive. Both male and female calves spend their first year of life with their mothers; then they are weaned, branded, and kept in single-sex groups. When the cattle reach maturity after two years or so, they are sent to the tienta, or testing.
  For the males, this establishes if they are suitable for breeding, the bullfight, or slaughter for meat. The testing for the bullfight is only of their aggression towards the horse, as regulations forbid their charging a man on the ground before they enter the bullfighting ring. They learn how to use their horns in tests of strength and dominance with other bulls. Due to their special aggression, these combats can lead to severe injuries and even death, a great cost to the breeder.
  The females are more thoroughly tested, including by a bullfighter with his capes; hence a bull's "courage" is often said to descend from his mother.
  If fit for bullfighting, bulls will return to their peers. Cows passing the tienta are kept for breeding and will be slaughtered only when they can bear no more calves.
  At three years old males are no longer considered calves; they are known as novillos and are ready for bullfighting, although novilladas are for training bullfighters, or novilleros. The best bulls are kept for corridas de toros with full matadors. Under Spanish law they must be at least four years old and reach the weight of 460 kg to fight in a first-rank bullring, 435 kg for a second-rank one, and 410 kg for third-rank rings. They must also have fully functional vision and even horns (which have not been tampered with) and be in generally good condition.
  A very few times each year a bull will be indultado, or "pardoned," meaning his life is spared due to outstanding behavior in the bullring, leading the audience to petition the president of the ring with white handkerchiefs. The bullfighter joins the petition, as it is a great honor to have a bull one has fought pardoned. The president pardons the bull showing an orange handkerchief. The bull, previously cured of his injuries (which are mostly superficial), is then returned to the ranch he was bred at, where he will live out his days in the fields. In most cases, he will become a "seed bull", mated once with some 30 cows. Four years later, his offspring will be tested in the ring. If they fight well, he may be bred again. 
  An "indultado" bull's lifespan can be 20 to 25 years.
caption: Breeding of Spanish fighting bulls near Salamanca
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