Angler cattle of old breeding direction

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Angler cattle of old breeding direction

The angler cattle of old breeding direction , also simply angler cattle a. Z. or red cattle of old anglers breeding direction , is a breed of domestic cattle , which is endangered in its existence. The breed has a solid dark red to deep brown fur. The original angler cattle was a triple-use breed; H. In addition to milk and meat production, the anglers used cattle of the old breed as draft animals. The special thing about this old, robust breed is its good adaptability to extreme climatic areas, its longevity and fertility. The high fat content of the milk of this breed should be emphasized. As a modern further development, the angler cattle of the modern type emerged as a separate breed from this old breeding direction.

origin

The breed of the angler cattle originated in fishing , a cultural landscape between Schlei and Flensburg Fjord , the first written reference comes from the 16th century. In 1879, breeders joined the Allgemeine Angler Viehzuchtverein to form a herdbook breeding association for cattle. Since then, there has been an organized breeding of the breed in fishing, which was aimed at specified characteristics.

Around 1880 a cow weighed 350 kg with a withers measurement of 120 cm and produced approx. 1,800 kg milk with a fat content of 3.4%. In 1928 it was formulated as a breeding goal that an angler cow with a weight of 500 kg should bring 4,000 kg milk with 4% fat. Almost 20 years later, the Angler cows were the first breed in Germany to produce more than 4% fat. In 1949 the breeding goal was adjusted to 4,000 kg milk with 5% fat and 6 calves. However, not only the milk yield but also the meat quality and quantity and the suitability as draft animals for breeding were taken into account.

Molecular biological investigations have shown that the old angler cattle represents a genetic peculiarity that is little related to the other common cattle breeds and has many unique genes and gene combinations.

properties

The breed of cattle is considered to be particularly noble and is also known as the “ Arab among the cows”. The animals should be completely red-brown in color, with white spots on the udder and stomach. Some lines have black masks and black legs. Cows have a live weight of 450–650 kg with a height of 1.26–1.42 m.

Anglers Cattle of old breeding direction show an approx. 15% higher utilization of the basic feed than other breeds. This means that the animals get along with little or no concentrated feed and still have a good milk yield with a fat content of around 5% and are in very good health. One of the breeding goals of this breed is that the animals react well to feeding: Good and bad feeding mainly affect the amount of milk, but not the health of the animals. This makes the breed particularly suitable for organic farming.

Due to their size and only medium weight, the cattle put little strain on the sward and are also well suited for slopes. The body structure of the animals favors calving.

In addition to the high fat content (4.5–6%) and protein content (3.2–4%), the milk of the old Angler cattle breed has particularly good cheese-making properties such as shorter coagulation and solidification times, faster jelly formation rates and higher gel strength, a higher cheese yield (up to 6%), better cheese quality and better heat stability. Because of the high fat content, the angler cows were also called "German butter cow".

The meat is short-grained and tender with a low proportion of connective tissue and good juice retention. Due to the high intramuscular fat content, the meat is very tasty. Because of its taste, among other things, the old-style angler beef was included in the Ark of Taste by Slow Food.

Endangering the existence

The survival of the original angler cattle is strongly threatened today. From around 12,000 animals that were still kept in Germany in 1993, the proportion of pure-bred animals decreased due to cross-breeding with other breeds (such as Red Holstein ) to around 340 cows in 2015, so that this old form of the breed dated Is threatened with extinction. From the old breeding direction, the modern form of the angler cattle, which is now managed as a separate breed, has emerged through cross-breeding and changed breeding goals, which put milk production in the foreground .

As with many other farm animals, the original breed was no longer able to cope with modern business requirements. In the meantime, however, conservation measures have been taken for this old cultivar. In May 2000, the Friends of the Angler Cattle of Old Breeding Direction was founded in Angler, with the aim of locating all cows nationwide that are anglers of old breeding methods with at least 62.5% old blood, to pass on sperm reserves for the offspring and To carry out public relations for the preservation of this breed. In 2002, the breed in its original breeding direction was determined by the Society for the Preservation of Old and Endangered Domestic Animal Breeds (GEH) as "Endangered Livestock Breed of the Year". In 2008 the organization Slow Food , which is committed to the preservation of traditional food and production techniques, accepted the old-style angler cattle into its ark of taste .

In 2020 a breeder of this breed, who keeps a herd of 70 cows in a dairy farm, won the “National Organic Farming Competition ”.

The breed was crossed into many other breeds, such as the Glan cattle , the Franconian cattle and the Harz red cattle .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Project for the conservation and breeding of the old angler cattle in Everode .
  2. ↑ a b c d History of the conservation and breeding project, accessed on July 30, 2015.
  3. ↑ The Ark Passengers: Angler Rind a. Z. Slow Food Germany, accessed on July 30, 2015.
  4. ↑ Report at Oekolandbau.de , accessed on January 24, 2020
  5. ↑ Press release of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture from January 23, 2020, accessed on January 24, 2020