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<P align="justify">Before the Second … <P align="justify">Before the Second World War, the cattle in Finnish Lapland consisted of a pearly white, black-eared indigenous breed called the Lapland Cow. In the period between 1944 and 1970, this native type, which was the oldest breed of cattle in Finland, almost completely disappeared. The reasons for this include the evacuation of cattle from Lapland in 1944 at the end of the war, the post-war policy of standardization in cattle husbandry, the shift from self-sufficient farming to intensive agriculture, and cattle-breeding, which placed little value on indigenous strains.</p>
<P align="justify">The official evacuation of cattle in Finnish Lapland affected about 29,000 native cattle. They were transported from northernmost Lapland via Sodankylä and Rovaniemi to the Swedish border at Aavasaksa. Because of transportation problems and long distances, the cattle of the Petsamo (today: Pechenga), Utsjoki and Inari regions were rounded up and slaughtered or sold to the German Army, which was stationed in northern Finland. In many localities in Lapland, the cattle, especially the bulls were almost totally lost.</p>
<P align="justify">Lapland Cattle were slim, hornless, fleet-footed and light, which enabled them to travel over swampy pastures. They were fertile, and their milk had a high fat content. It was also rich in proteins, and thus easy to make into cheese. It is thought that they knew how to evade midges and that their white colour deterred not only mosquitoes but also enemies. Lapland Cattle were long-living, attractive, stubborn, plucky and sometimes downright diabolical. They were fed with a mixture of lichens, fungi, fish leavings, marsh grass and leaf fodder. The cattle were accustomed to this kind of food, as they were to the climate and the land.</p>
<P align="justify">The Lapland Cow is in imminent danger of extinction. In 202 there were only 200 purebred breeding cows. The Finnish state s programme for protecting the breed includes the maintenance of a gene bank herd in Pelso Prison in Vaala and the payment of a subsidy to private persons who raise purebred cattle.</p><BR><BR>
[[Table of contents: Means of livelyhood and transport|Table of contents: Means of livelyhood and transport]]<BR><BR>lyhood and transport]]<BR><BR> +
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