Quercy, and Blonde des Pyrenées breeds, during the formation of the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed in 1962. All of these cattle belonged to the "blond and red" branch of cattle. Limousin breeders fiercely opposed the merger and the Limousin breed was retained. The Limousin breed resumed its growth in the 1960s. The size of the French Limousin herd has increased sharply in recent years, with a 50% increase in numbers in France in 15 years. Today, it is the second-most numerous French beef breed, behind Charolais and ahead of Blonde d'Aquitaine. In 2004, of about 900,000 Limousin cows, 63,000 were recorded in the herd book. At that time, 20,000 bulls were used for breeding, 10% through artificial insemination, and 1,600 were recorded in the Herd Book. France's Limousin herd grew by 2.6% in 2014 to 2.69 million head as of 31 Dec., including 1.09 million cows. DNA studies have identified close genetic relationships between Limousin cattle and other south-west European breeds. One study reported a possible common origin or recent gene flow between the Limousin and Charolais cattle breeds. whereas other studies indicated that a closer genetic relationship exists between Limousin, Gasconne, Aubrac, Bazadais, Salers, and Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle. One historian reported that the Limousin breed's origins can be traced to the blonde Garonne breed in the fifth century AD. The Garonne breed from the south-west of France was merged into the Blonde d'Aquitaine breed in 1962. The grey Gasconne breed with which Limousin cattle have a close genetic relationship is also reported to have arrived in the south-west of France with the Visigoths also around the fifth century AD. The Limousin belongs to the blond group of European cattle, in a sub-group which also includes the Alpha 16, the Maraîchine, the Nantaise and the Parthenaise. The herd-book Significance The purest form of Limousins have ancestors that can all be traced to "Full French" entries in the herd-book (known in France as Le livre généalogique). These Limousins are known by different names. In the US, and Canada they are known as Fullbloods, in Australia and New Zealand as French Pure, and in European countries such as Britain as purebred or simply Limousin. In France, two Full French Herd Book classes exist, namely Pureblood (pur sang in French, also translated to Fullblood) and Pure Bred (race pure in French). The Full French Pure Bred Herd Book class, as with all European Union