The Burlina is a breed of cattle from the mountainous areas of the

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

of north-east Italy. It is distributed mainly in the

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

and

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

. It is a dual-purpose breed, but is raised principally for

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

production. It has been suggested that it may be related to the similar

Bretonne Pie Noir The Bretonne Pie Noir is a French list of cattle breeds, breed of small dairy cattle from Brittany, in north-western France. It originates from Cornouaille and the Vannes, Pays de Vannes in the départements of Finistère and Morbihan. Due to ...

breed of small

pied A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backg ...

dairy cattle in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

History

The origins of the Burlina are unknown. It has been suggested that it may be related to the

, a breed of small

dairy cattle in

, or that it may have been brought into Italy by

Cimbrian Cimbrian (, ; ; ) is any of several local Upper German varieties spoken in parts of the Italian regions of Trentino and Veneto. The speakers of the language are known as in German. Cimbrian is a Germanic language related to Bavarian most ...

migrants. The Burlina was one of the most numerous breeds present in north-eastern Italy in the early 20th century, numbering tens of thousands of head. Until the 1930s, it was the commonest dairy breed on the

Altopiano di Asiago Asiago (; Venetian: ''Axiago'', Cimbrian: ''Slege'', German: ''Schlägen'' ) is a minor township (population roughly 6,500) with the title of ciin the surrounding plateau region (the ''Altopiano di Asiago'' or '' Sette Comuni, Altopiano dei ...

, in the Colli Berici, on

Monte Grappa Monte Grappa () (1,775 m) is a mountain of the Venetian Prealps in Veneto, Italy. It lies between the Venetian plain to the south and the central alpine areas to the north. To the west, it is parted from the Asiago upland by the Brenta river, a ...

and in the '' Monti Lessini''. Numbers declined significantly during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, under the

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

regime and during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and gradually during the 1950s and 1960s. It was mostly replaced by the Friesian, which was deemed more productive. In 1956 the population in the

was recorded as 11,283. By 2008 it had fallen to about 300.

Characteristics

The Burlina is small, with a

black-and-white coat. It is well adapted to grazing on poor or marginal mountain pasture, and is hardy, rugged and resistant to disease.

Use

The Burlina cow has a milk yield comparable to that of other Italian Alpine breeds, and about half that of a Friesian. It is longer-lived and more fertile, and, because of its smaller size, requires less food; it can exploit poor and fragile mountain pastures. The milk is similar in proportions of

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

and

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

to that of the Friesian, but is higher in

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

and so more suitable for

cheese-making Cheesemaking (or caseiculture) is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrate ...

. The milk is traditionally used in the production of the regional Morlacco del Grappa cheese. Both the cheese and the Burlina breed are included in the

Ark of Taste The Ark of Taste is an international catalogue of endangered heritage foods which is maintained by the global Slow Food movement. The Ark is designed to preserve at-risk foods that are sustainably produced, unique in taste, and part of a distin ...

of the Slow Food Foundation. The traditional management system is

transhumant Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower ...

– the cattle range freely on high alpine pasture during the summer and are brought down to pass the winter in byres where they are fed mostly on hay, with a minimum of concentrated feed.

References

{{Cattle breeds of Italy Dairy cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in Italy Cattle breeds originating in South Tyrol Cattle breeds originating in Trentino Veneto