Mountain race

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As a mountain breed is called in Agriculture and Livestock breeds of pets that to life in the mountainous country are adjusted. The term includes ancestral forms of wild animals as well as breeding breeds . In principle, a distinction is then made between mountain races and lowland / lowland / valley / flatland races .

To the subject

The concept of mountain breeds emerged around the middle of the 19th century when dedicated breed breeding began. Travelogues this time, for the European mountain areas - in this time of occurs alpinism in the attention of the natural history and ethnography - as " exotic " countries, report on regional characteristics and the pets. Attempts were then made increasingly to include characteristics and properties of the numerous traditional cultivated forms ( land races ) of the more remote areas in order to recommend them for local peculiarities and to use them for crossbreeding, and thus to make common performance races more robust, to eliminate errors, as well as in usability to optimize in worse locations.

Mountain races are adapted to a life in harsh climatic conditions as well as the great physical strain. Characteristic properties include frugality, robustness, weather resistance, cold and heat tolerance, disease resistance, physical resilience, climbing skills, a head for heights and a high level of surefootedness, as well as intelligence and good social qualities. Compared to flatland breeds, they are typically stout, lighter and more hairy. Basically, this was introduced into biology as a general biological mechanism as early as 1860 by Charles Darwin - with regard to cattle breeding (only today we no longer speak of “races”, but in the context of modern taxonomy of mechanisms such as phylogenetics , phenotypes and convergence / Analogy ):

“Mountain races are everywhere different from low races, and mountain regions will probably have an effect on the hind legs and, if need be, on the pelvis, if these are used more there; according to the law of homologous variation, the front limbs and probably the head will also be affected. "

- Charles Darwin: On the Origin of Species . 1st edition, 1860, 6th chapter. Difficulties of theory. P. 208

These races are typically extensively (such as part of a transhumance form transhumance or transhumance ) summer held or year-round in the open, and also rise in its sole discretion into hochalpinste documents when they find feeding grounds, so must independently provide for their security. Therefore, a stable herd structure with experienced lead animals is the basis of cattle breeding in mountain breeds , so they are usually kept until older than lowland breeds.

High yields in meat, milk and other animal products are in the background as opposed to survivability and ease of care, which is why they are mostly multi-purpose breeds . From the turn of the century one began to set breeding standards for mountain breeds as well. Particularly in the interwar period, some collective breeds were defined, such as the mountain goat , into which several sub-forms were integrated. A typical example of a mountain breed is given by the breeding goal for the Tyrolean gray cattle (in which numerous local breeds of the gray-brown high cattle were absorbed) in the formulation of 1924 - it could apply to every mountain breed :

“The Tiroler Grauvieh is a light to moderate mountain breed bred for combined performance, with which special emphasis is placed on milk and fat performance, robust health, good feed conversion, regular fertility and uniformity of color. Adapted to the mountain conditions, it is characterized by a stable foundation , deep, wide torso , good muscling and lively temperament and is able to produce the required performance in milk, work and fattening. "

With the advent of factory farming and yield agriculture - and workhorses of the motor vehicle and agricultural equipment - began the performance breeds to displace the traditional forms. Some mountain breeds, such as the Simmental (Simmental, Switzerland) in cattle or Saanen (Switzerland) have been spread around the world, or the Haflinger horse (Austria) survived a military beast of the disappearance of workhorses.

However, numerous local cultivated forms have become extinct or have become rare today. It was only with the boom in organic and regional agriculture as well as the biogenetic protection programs of old cultivars in plants and animals that efforts began to be made again for the mountain breeds. Since the 1980s, breed standards have increasingly been set for original forms and the stock has been consolidated in breeding programs and breeders' associations. Some local breeds have also become popular as fashion, such as the long-haired Scottish highland cattle or the Icelander as a leisure horse.

Protection programs

See also

literature

  • Beate Berger: Domestication and old domestic animal breeds . In: Michaela Arndorfer (ed.): How many species do humans need? A search for clues . Volume 22 of the Green Series of the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-205-78516-3 , p. 235–284 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - also for the ÖNGENE program ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ As by far the most important farm animal, initially mainly related to cattle; an early mention of sheep, for example, in David Low: Elements of Practical Agriculture: Comprehending the Cultivation of Plants, the Husbandry of the Domestic Animals, and the Economy of the Farm . Bell & Bradfute, 1834, pp. 540 ( limited preview in Google Book search). : “ The properties to be desired in a mountain breed are, that it shall be hardy, of good form, of sufficient size, and with good wool. ”
  2. ↑ Heinrich Wilhelm von Pabst distinguished as early as 1829 the "Niederungs-Raçen, Höhelands-Raçen" and "Gebirgs-Raçen" (of the high mountains). Heinrich Wilhelm von Pabst: Instructions for breeding cattle and for various uses of the horned cattle . Verlag der JG Cotta'schen Buchhandlung, 1829, § 7.Description of the individual Raçen 7. Gebirgs-Raçen , p. 42 ( Google eBook, full view - and 6. Raçen close to mountain cattle ; § 7 p. 31 ff). This is followed by e.g. Johann Christian Daniel Schreber, Georg August Goldfuss, Andreas Johann Wagner: The mammals in images from nature . Verlag Expedition des Schreber'schen Säugthier- and Esper'schen Butterfly Works, 1836, Bos Taurus - The Common Cattle b) Tame Common Cattle: Humpbackless Races V. Alpine Race , p.
     1619 ( limited preview in the Google book search - systematics p. 1600, reference to the source, footnote 23), p. 1597; no such explicit subdivision can be found in the sheep, p. 1398 ff, where mountain sheep is mentioned repeatedly , or the goat, p. 1266 ff).
  3. ↑ for example JA Schlipf: Popular handbook of agriculture for the practical farmer and for advanced training schools according to the current standpoint of progress in fields, meadows and viticulture, in fruit tree cultivation, cattle, sheep, horses, pigs and beekeeping . 6th edition. Verlag Carl Mäcken, Stuttgart 1859, cattle breeding §175 division of cattle breeds A) lowland breed , B) mountain breed , p. 433 ff . ( Google eBook, full view - 1st edition 1841). likewise C. Böhm: The keeping, care and treatment of agricultural domestic mammals in healthy and Sick . Verlag C. Mäcken, Stuttgart 1849, § 17, p.
     11 ( Google eBook, full view ).
  4. ↑ "For central and southern Germany, crossing with bulls of the Swiss mountain breed is particularly recommended." S. Thaer: Ration. Agricultural IV, S99. Sturm: About races, crossbreeding and refinement of agricultural Domestic animals . Elberf. 1825, p. 71. According to Karl Heinrich Rau: Textbook of political economy . 2nd Edition. 1839, § 170 Die Rinderzucht ... (a), p. 216 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ↑ at the time still expressly with the addition: "We know absolutely nothing about the causes"
  6. ↑ Charles Darwin: On the Origin of Species. Chapter Six: Difficulties of Theory. ( Wikisource ).
  7. ↑ special technical term: nightworthy
  8. ↑ This is how the authors Wilckens and Duerst emphasize the similarity between Asian short-horned cattle and Alpine mountain breeds. Martin Wilckens, Ulrich Duerst: Basic features of the natural history of domestic animals . Books on Demand, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8457-2484-3 , B. Asiatic shorthorn cattle , p. 304 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  9. ↑ Quoted from LFZ Raumberg-Gumpenstein , ÖNGENE : Rare breeds worthy of preservation: The Tiroler Grauvieh ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Folder (PDF, raumberg-gumpenstein.at)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.raumberg-gumpenstein.at
  10. ↑ z. B. in a youth book: Hanke Huber, Marion Wieczorek (Ill.): Gebirge . tape 119 of What is what . Tessloff Verlag, 2005, ISBN 978-3-7886-1506-2 , People in the mountains: What do alpine pastures mean for the people of the Alps , p. 33 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  11. ↑ Save-Foundation.net
  12. ↑ ÖNGENE (Oengene.at)
  13. ↑ cf. Federal Office for Agriculture: Animal Genetic Resources of Swiss Agriculture ( Memento of the original of July 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.blw.admin.ch archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Brochure, undated (with numerous descriptions of typical mountain breeds)
  14. ↑ ProSpecieRara.ch
  15. ↑ RARE (associazionerare.it)