Ringamålako

The Ringamålako is an endangered Swedish breed of dairy cattle. It is named for the village of Ringamåla in the southern Swedish county of Blekinge, and is found primarily in southern Sweden.[3] It is similar to the type of Swedish Red-and-White cattle of the 1940s, and is considered a valuable genetic resource.[4]

Ringamålako
Conservation statusFAO (2007): critical-maintained[1]:111
Country of originSweden
Usemilk
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    750 kg[2]
  • Female:
    500 kg[2]
Coatred and white
Horn statushorned in both sexes
  • Cattle
  • Bos (primigenius) taurus

History

The Ringamålako is a traditional domestic Swedish breed.[5] It is named for the småort of Ringamåla in the southern Swedish county of Blekinge, where a farming couple had maintained a closed herd of the animals for more than forty years.[6] It is thought to be similar to the type of Swedish Red-and-White (Swedish: Svensk Röd och Vit Boskap or SRB) cattle that was raised in the 1940s.[4] Like the Swedish Red-and-White, it derives from the former Swedish Red Pied and Swedish Ayrshire breeds.[2] The Ringamålako population was isolated from other dairy breeds for many years,[3] and is considered to be a valuable genetic resource.[4] There is a programme of recovery and conservation of the breed.[7] The Ringamålako herd-book was established in 1993.[4]

The Ringamålako is grouped with two other endangered indigenous cattle breeds, the Väneko and the Bohuskulla, as Allmogekor, or roughly "Swedish native cattle".[8]:307[7] Conservation and registration of these populations is managed by a society, the Föreningen Allmogekon.[3]

In 2014 the total Ringamålako population was reported to be 164.[4]

Characteristics

The coat of the Ringamålako is multi-coloured red and white.[2] Bulls weigh approximately 750 kg, cows about 500 kg.[4]

Use

The Ringamålako is a dual-purpose breed, kept both for its milk and for its meat;[2] it is, however, not very productive.[7] The only breeding aim is preservation of the breed without contamination from other breeds.[3] It is maintained as a genetic resource for the Swedish Red-and-White,[4] and for social and cultural reasons.[3] It may be used in vegetation management.[2]

A small number are kept, together with sheep of the endangered Roslag breed, at pasture at the Bokö Nature Reserve in the Östergötland archipelago.[9]

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: Ringamala Cow. Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. Archived 15 November 2007.
  3. Swedish Cattle Breeds. North European Cattle Diversity Project. Archived 18 March 2009.
  4. Breed data sheet: Ringamålako/Sweden. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed November 2016.
  5. [Swedish Board of Agriculture] (2002). Country report on animal genetic resources for food and agriculture in Sweden, 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.
  6. Ringamålako (in Swedish). Föreningen Allmogekon. Archived 4 March 2016.
  7. Rawlynce C. Bett, Mwai A. Okeyo, Birgitta Malmfors, Kjell Johansson, Morris Agaba, Donald R. Kugonza, A.K.F.H. Bhuiyan, Anibal E. Vercesi Filho, Arthur S. Mariante, Fidalis D. Mujibi, Jan Philipsson (2013). Cattle Breeds: Extinction or Quasi-Extant?. Resources 2 (3): 335–357. doi:10.3390/resources2030335.
  8. 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.
  9. Bokö. Länsstyrelsen Östergötland. Archived 9 June 2011.
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