Bohuskulla

The Bohuskulla is an endangered Swedish breed of hornless mountain cattle. It originates from the area of the Kynnefjäll plateau in northern Bohuslän and Dalsland, in western Sweden. It is a traditional domestic Swedish breed, and derives from a group of cattle discovered in the 1990s in Skepplanda, in Västergötland, close to the border with Bohuslän.[3] Microsatellite analysis has shown it to be closely related to the Fjällko mountain cattle of Sweden.

Bohuskulla
Conservation statusFAO (2007): critical-maintained[1]:111
Country of originSweden
Distribution
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    600 kg[2]
  • Female:
    425 kg[2]
Coatusually black or brown colour-sided
Horn statuspolled (hornless)
  • Cattle
  • Bos (primigenius) taurus

History

The Bohuskulla is a traditional domestic Swedish breed. Microsatellite analysis has shown it to be closely related to the Fjällko mountain cattle of Sweden;[4] however, unlike the Fjällko, it is polled, hornless. It originates from the barren pasture land of the Kynnefjäll plateau in northern Bohuslän and Dalsland, in western Sweden. Many were exported to Norway in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[3]

In the 1990s a small population was identified in Skepplanda, in Västergötland, close to the border with Bohuslän; the cattle had been brought from the Kynnefjäll.[3] A herd-book for the breed was established in 1993.[5]

There is a programme of recovery and conservation of the breed.[6] The Bohuskulla is grouped with two other endangered indigenous cattle breeds, the Ringamålako and the Väneko, as Allmogekor, or roughly "Swedish native cattle".[7]:307[6] Conservation and registration of these populations is managed by a society, the Föreningen Allmogekon.[5]

In the past, some cross-breeding with the Fjällnära boskap breed of mountain cattle was allowed. Under a new breeding plan drawn up in 2007, this is no longer permitted.[3]

In 2011 the total Bohuskulla population was reported to be 39 cows and 11 bulls, with semen from a further 7 bulls available for artificial insemination.[3] In 2008 the Bohuskulla was reported to DAD-IS with 36 registered cows.[6] In 2016 it was no longer among the breeds reported by the Swedish Board of Agriculture.[8]

Characteristics

The Bohuskulla has the typical qualities of mountain cattle: it is agile, fertile, and calves easily. The coat is variable; it is often colour-sided, either black or brown.[3] Bulls weigh approximately 600 kg, cows about 425 kg.[2]

Use

Like the other Allmogeko breeds, the Bohuskulla is not very productive.[6]

References
  1. Barbara Rischkowsky, D. Pilling (eds.) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Accessed November 2016.
  2. Breed description: Bohus polled cow. Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. Archived 13 November 2007.
  3. Bohuskulla (in Swedish). Föreningen Allmogekon. Archived 9 September 2016.
  4. I. Tapio, et al. (2006). Prioritization For Conservation Of Northern European Cattle Breeds Based On Analysis Of Microsatellite Data. Conservation Biology 20 (6): 1768–1779.  – via EBSCO Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  5. Swedish Cattle Breeds. North European Cattle Diversity Project. Archived 18 March 2009.
  6. R.C. Bett, K. Johansson, E. Zonabend, B. Malmfors, J. Ojango, M. Okeyo, J. Philipsson (2010). Trajectories of Evolution and Extinction in the Swedish Cattle Breeds. In: 9th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production: Proceedings; Leipzig, Germany; August 1-6, 2010. Leipzig: Gesellschaft für Tierzuchtwissenschaften. ISBN 9783000316081.
  7. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  8. Breeds reported by Sweden: Cattle. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed November 2016.
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