The Fjäll ( sv, Fjällko, italic=no or ) is a traditional Swedish

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of polled mountain

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

. It was threatened with extinction in the 1970s and 1980s, but recovered after a breed association was formed in 1995, partly thanks to stocks of frozen semen. Microsatellite analysis has shown it to be closely related to the endangered Bohuskulla breed.

History

There have long been small polled mountain cattle in Sweden. A text from 1296 AD describes cattle that are "small, hornless, white or whitish grey, often with dark spots". The Fjällras was established as a breed in the nineteenth century. A herd-book was started in 1907. The traditional mountain cattle breeds were very variable. In 1937 a new breed, the

Swedish Polled The Swedish Polled, sv, Svensk Kullig Boskap, italic=no, often abbreviated to SKB, is a Swedish breed of domestic cattle. It was created in 1937 from two different Swedish cattle breeds, the Swedish Red Polled and the Fjäll. Breeders did not ...

( sv, or SKB) was created with the intention of merging the Fjällras with the Swedish Red Polled ( sv, ), a quite different breed of mountain cattle. However, breeders did not accept the new classification, and continued to maintain separate bloodlines as before. During the 1970s and 1980s indiscriminate cross-breeding placed the breed in danger of extinction. A breeders' association, the Föreningen Svensk Fjällrasavel, was established in 1996; a similar association, the Sveriges Rödkulleförening, had formed for the Rödkulla in the 1960s. Stocks of frozen

semen Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is an organic bodily fluid created to contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize the female ovum. Semen i ...

from pure-bred Fjällras bulls born in the mid-twentieth century helped in the recovery of the breed, and allowed the

effective population The effective population size (''N'e'') is a number that, in some simplified scenarios, corresponds to the number of breeding individuals in the population. More generally, ''N'e'' is the number of individuals that an idealised population wo ...

size to be increased. In 1996 it was estimated that there were approximately 400 Fjällras cows. In 2012 a total population of 6836 head was reported. The traditional Fjäll has divided into two sub-breeds, the Svensk Fjällras and the Fjällnära Boskap.

Characteristics

The coat colour of the Fjällras is variable: it may be almost white; white speckled with red or black;

colour-sided Colour-sided or lineback is a type of fur pattern in domesticated cattle. It consists of any solid body colour (such as black, red, or brindle) with white finching along the spine, along the underbelly, and over the tail, head, and legs. The ...

red or black with finching; or, occasionally, solid red, black or – more rarely – grey. The skin is white. The cattle are well adapted to the mountain environment and forage well on poor pasture.

Use

The Fjällras is principally a dairy breed. Average milk yield is approximately of milk per

lactation Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all sexually mature female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The proces ...

; some cows may give . The milk has a high butter-fat content, approximately 4.5%, and a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

content of about 3.6%; it is particularly rich in

κ-casein Κ-casein, or kappa casein, is a mammalian milk protein involved in several important physiological processes. Chymosin splits K-casein into an insoluble peptide (para kappa-casein) and water-soluble glycomacropeptide (GMP). GMP is responsible f ...

B and is suitable for making cheese.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fjall Cattle Cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in Sweden