Allmogekor

Allmogekor; Allmoge cattle; singular Allmogeko [almuːjɛkuː] 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]

• Bohuskulla ^{[→ sv]},
• Ringamålako,
• Väneko ^{[→ sv]}.

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

• List of breeds of cattle
• Telemark cattle

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. Föreningen Allmogekon (accessed Mar-18-2013)
2. Circa – a collaborative workspace with partners of the European Institutions: Breeding Organisations or Associations : bovine species (accessed Mar-18-2013)
3. Swedish Wikipedia: Avelsförening, section Nötkreatur. (Swedish; accessed Mar-18-2013)
4. Samarbetsgruppen Lantrasforum: Rödlistan. (Swedish; accessed Mar-18-2013)
5. Oklahoma State University: Breeds of Livestock: Cattle (Bos): Allmogekor (accessed Mar-18-2013)
6. 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)