Thursday, September 16, 2010

When food gets scarce...

... reach upwards.

This is an old heritage breed cow from southern Sweden from an isolated farm who kept the same group of cows (and their calves) over nearly 50 years, thereby preserving their genetics and not replacing them with the high-yielding superbred cow breeds that are common today. So kind of a living fossil. This is the kind of cow that was common in the early 1900s and is shown in the books by Astrid Lindgren. And now this cow is in a living farm museum in Södertälje, Sweden.

2 comments:

EH said...

I found this informative homepage on Ringemåla-cows and their relatives. You´ll find an english translation, look for the flag. http://www.allmogekon.se/

LS said...

Great link EH! Amazinig that they can find thse old breeds that have been living on the same farm for 40-100 years. I guess those were stubborn and smart farmers...