Breeding a new wild cow

Written by Administrator

Saturday, 02 October 2010 16:37

In 2000 Ark foundation started in cooperation with two private cattle breeders a program for breeding a strong natural cow suitable for free live in Latvian nature. Two herds where formed from a selection of Latvian brown and blue cattle, one near Rucava and one near Zaube. These animals where to be crossbred with Hungarian grey- and Scottish highland- cattle. In the summer of 2000 Rigas ZOO provided Ark Foundation with 2 cows and 2 bulls of the breed Hungarian grey. Later one other 2 cows were given, all animals where provided to make Ark’s crossbreeding experiment possible.

The aim is by breeding and selection to combine in one animal several genetically defined qualities positive for living under natural conditions in Latvia. Latvian brown as a breed is not suitable for living in the wild. Still even it did undergo several adaptations to Latvian circumstances, which are valuable for natural survival, for instance disease resistance. Together with the natural adaptations of Highlander and Hungarian grey, this population has a lot of genetic possibility’s to adapt, and overcome the hazards of living under natural conditions in Latvia. Highlander is an old primitive breed very well adapted to the harsh (cold en wet) Atlantic climate of the Scottish highlands. Hungarian grey, also a ferry old en primitive breed is adapted to the continental climate (cold winters and hot summers) of the Hungarian steppes. Besides that Hungarian grey is the only breed that possibly descends from the European aurochs, all other European breeds are certainly from domestication centres in the Middle East or even North Africa.

The idea is to crossbreed the three breeds to a mix population of 1/8 Latvian brown 2/8 Highlander and 5/8 of Hungarian grey. This mix can then be interred in to a nature area where slowly mainly trough natural selection an animal will emerge that is optimally adapted to the circumstances of Latvian nature.

For instance, in case of severe cold the thick fur with wool and coffer hair of the Hungarian grey is positive, in case of food shortage the Highlanders capacity for fat storage comes in handy, and in case of a predator attack, horns need to be big and strong quality’s you find with both Highlander and Hungarian, but also effectively positioned a quality best found with Latvian brown. When the positive quality’s of three breeds are combined in one animal, it gives it a greet advantage in survival.

The (pure breed) founder animals selected for the crossbreeding experiment where still living under extensive farming conditions. They are living outside all year, but had a shelter-shed and hay available in winter. In this stage a second human selection already takes place, animals that are having problems living under these conditions were taken out of the program. For instance if it was losing too much weight in winter, or if it is not capable of giving birth independently.

The first hydride offspring, where introduced into a more natural situation.

In September 2002 a first group of 7 females and 1 male where introduced in Vitinu natural meadows on the Liepaja lake shore, here a territory of a hundred hectares was fenced out for the herd to live in. Since then herds of crossbred cattle where interred in to on other 9 nature territories like; Dviete, Kumbuļi and Vec Laicene.

Since the introduction at Vitiņu this bovine herd has learned to cope with various conditions such as severe winter with long snow covered periods with +40C with its mosquito pelages. They learned al kinds of survival skills, the most striking is tat they turned shy and are mostly hiding away in bushes or reeds, this makes them heard to up serve. They learned to find food when there is deep snow by pushing the snow away with there nose but also by eating more and more bark and branches. They push down reeds, even on the ice to form an isolating bed to rest on. To cool down in summer, ore to avoid mosquito’s they stand on a windy place in the water for many hours. The knowledge and tricks they acquired stay with the herd and are going from one to the next generation.

The animals have flourisht under these conditions and have multiplied to a herd of 32 heads this autumn. Human selection takes place by taking out some of the less promising bulls every year. Still the biggest selection takes place naturally; big natural selection mechanisms are winter circumstances and early fertility, female animals that are (to) early fertile have a big chance not to survive the first birth giving. Although the herd is very heterogenic one can already see that some features are becoming more dominant in the herd because they are giving animals a better chance to survive, like late fertility a thick fur and big horns.