Allmogekor
Allmogekor; Allmoge cattle; singular Allmogeko [almuːɡɛkuː] is a generic term for the old native breeds of cattle from Sweden.
Individual breeds
There are a number of individual Allmogeko breeds. Official herdbook keeper for most of them is the Föreningen Allmogekon, the Allmogeko Society.[1][2] For the time being it concentrates on maintaining three breeds and only keeps herdbooks for these three:[1]
For two distinct dairy breeds, Fjällko and Rödkulla [→ sv], the herdbook keeper is Svensk Mjölk, the Swedish Association of dairy farmers.[3]
On its Red List, the Swedish Samarbetsgruppen Lantrasforum (Cooperative Group Landrace Forum) ranks all five of these Allmogeko breeds in the highest risk level, "acutely threatened".[4]
Usage
These cattle are often hardy and well adapted for extensive production as they are good foragers, self-sufficient and very active. This makes them well suited for grazing on fields and woods in national parks, etc.[5] They were used as dual- to triple-purpose breeds, i. e. as breeds which served as draft animals, dairy cattle and beef suppliers. No longer able to compete with modern single-purpose breeds in terms of profit maximization, they are preserved as a cultural heritage, as living gene banks, and as extensive care cattle suited both for conservation projects [6] and for young Swedish back-to-the-country families.[1]
The name
Swedish ″kor″ (cows) is the plural form of ″ko″ (cow), ″allmoge″ is the farming class or rural class in a neutral sense; the name might thus be translated as ″farming class cattle″, ″farmers’ cattle″ or simply ″country cattle″. The translation ″peasantry cattle″, used by Föreningen Allmogekon,[1] does not quite confer the Swedish sense, as the British term ″peasantry″ has a more negative ring to it (compare the articles on ″peasantry″ in both Wikipedia and wiktionary).
See also
External links
- Homepage of the Allmogeko-Society: Föreningen Allmogekon (Swedish; accessed Mar-18-2013)
- Description page on Oklahoma State University's web site: Breeds of Livestock: Cattle (Bos): Allmogekor. (accessed Mar-18-2013)
- Allmogekor as draft animals – Oxar.se: Main page, Kettil and Gilbert. (Swedish; accessed Mar-18-2013)
References
- 1 2 3 4 Föreningen Allmogekon (accessed Mar-18-2013)
- ↑ Circa – a collaborative workspace with partners of the European Institutions: Breeding Organisations or Associations : bovine species (accessed Mar-18-2013)
- ↑ Swedish Wikipedia: Avelsförening, section Nötkreatur. (Swedish; accessed Mar-18-2013)
- ↑ Samarbetsgruppen Lantrasforum: Rödlistan. (Swedish; accessed Mar-18-2013)
- ↑ Oklahoma State University: Breeds of Livestock: Cattle (Bos): Allmogekor (accessed Mar-18-2013)
- ↑ see for example the usage of Väne cows in the nature reserve Hornborgasjön, in: Naturvårdsenheten på Länsstyrelsen i Västra Götalands län – Hornborgasjön: Lantrasdjuren. (Swedish; accessed Mar-18-2013)