Although cattle of the Ferrandaise type had long been known in the northern part of the region of Auvergne (now part of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), the name "Ferrandaise" only came into use in the second half of the nineteenth century; before that, they were known as the race bigarrée, or roughly "the mottled breed".

[7]: 175  The breed was mainly concentrated in two areas, around Clermont-Ferrand (for which it is named) and around Ambert, both in the département of Puy-de-Dôme, but its range extended into the Loire and the Haute-Loire to the south and east, and into the Corrèze to the west.

Numbers fell in the years following the Second World War, both because of the mechanisation of agriculture, which meant that there was decreased demand for draught cattle, and because of the official policy of reduction of the number of French minority breeds established in 1960 by Edmond Quittet, the Inspecteur général de l'agriculture [fr].

In that year a breeders' association, the Association pour la Sauvegarde de la Race Bovine Ferrandaise, was formed, and with the help of the Institut de l'élevage [fr] and the Parc naturel régional des volcans d'Auvergne [fr], a recovery project was launched.

It is well adapted to rough and poor terrain, and in particular to the soil and climatic conditions of the mountains of its native area.