The Väneko is an endangered Swedish

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable 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 seve ...

dairy cattle Dairy cattle (also called dairy cows) are cattle bred with the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cattle generally are of the species '' Bos taurus''. Historically, little distinction was ...

. It is named for the village of Väne-Ryr in the landskap of

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Vä ...

, in western Sweden. It is a traditional domestic Swedish breed, and derives from a group of cattle discovered in the 1990s, at a time when all traditional Swedish horned cattle were thought to have disappeared.

History

The Väneko is a traditional domestic Swedish breed. It is named for the village of in the

Vänersborg Municipality Vänersborg Municipality () is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the stad (Sweden), city of Vänersborg. The present municipality was created during the local governmen ...

of Västra Götaland, in the landskap of

in western Sweden. It derives from a group of cattle discovered in the 1990s, at a time when all traditional Swedish horned cattle were thought to have disappeared. There is a programme of recovery and conservation of the breed. A

herd-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry, the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders wh ...

was established in 1993. The Väneko is grouped with two other endangered indigenous cattle breeds, the

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. It is similar to the type of Swedish Red-and-White ...

and the

Bohuskulla The Bohuskulla is an endangered Swedish breed of hornless mountain cattle. It originates from the area of the plateau in northern Bohuslän and Dalsland, in western Sweden. It is a traditional domestic Swedish breed, and derives from a group ...

, as

Allmogekor Allmogekor (singular Allmogeko, ) are the traditional Swedish List of cattle breeds, breeds of cattle. The word means roughly "rustic cattle". Individual breeds There are a number of Allmogeko breeds. The herdbook for three of them – the Boh ...

, or roughly "Swedish native cattle". Conservation and registration of these populations is managed by a society, the Föreningen Allmogekon. In 2014 the total Väneko population was reported to be 190.

Characteristics

The coat of the Väneko is multi-coloured, black or red, sometimes with white; the cattle may be solid-coloured, red or black

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 ...

, or

colour-sided Colour-sided is a colour pattern of domesticated cattle. It is sometimes called lineback. Characteristics The pattern consists of a dark body colour, with white finching along the spine, white under the belly, and often white also over the ...

. Bulls weigh approximately , cows about .

Use

The Väneko is a dairy breed, kept principally for its milk; it is, however, not very productive. The only breeding aim is preservation of the breed without contamination from other breeds. It is maintained for social and cultural reasons, and may be used in

vegetation management Conservation grazing or targeted grazing is the use of semi-feral or domesticated grazing livestock to maintain and increase the biodiversity of natural or semi-natural grasslands, heathlands, wood pasture, wetlands and many other habitats.

References

Cattle breeds originating in Sweden Agriculture in Sweden {{bots, deny=Citation bot