Today there are Linderöd pigs, Swedish Blue Ducks, Swedish Goulash, Hedemorah hens and roosters. Common to all breeds is that they are all so-called. Swedish Landraces.
What is a national breed?
A breed of pet from a restricted area which has adapted to the local environment. The characteristic feature of a country breed is therefore the adaptations to the local environment – the ability to survive and produce.
In Sweden, the Lantras were threatened when we went from a small-scale and self-catering farm to a specialized and industrialized agriculture. The older domestic animals adapted to local conditions were not effective enough in large-scale and production-oriented agriculture. It was not until the end of the 20th century that the importance of rural breeds for biodiversity, for example, was realised, and the work to preserve our rural breeds took off. Several Swedish country breeds had then completely disappeared or been mixed up with other breeds.
Every country that is signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity is responsible for preserving its breeds of domestic animals. In Sweden, the Swedish Board of Agriculture has criteria for which breeds of domestic animals the country has conservation responsibility for.
At Öråkers Gård we want to be involved in making an effort to preserve and show off the fine breeds of our coountry. We are concerned about animal welfare and that they should be able to live on larger areas and work with the preparation of cultivated soil and other efforts.
Unrefined and protected Swedish country breed Maggie and Tina were born on 31 January 2020 on a farm outside Söderköping, they came to Öråker on April 25. Tina and Maggie have an important task at Öråker. They help prepare the land for cultivation and thin the forest.
Pigs are very intelligent and social animals. The Linderöd pig is a so-called. breed (older type of domestic animal). Also called gingerbread pig.
THE HISTORY OF LINDERÖDSVINET (Source: The Association of Country Pigs)
Our domestic pigs come from the boar that originates in Europe, South Asia and Africa. Domestic pigs have been present in Sweden for about 4,500 years. They were taken as pets by the people who had immigrated to Sweden and were much appreciated.
Linderödssvinet has its origins in the old Swedish forest wine that roamed the beech and oak forests of southern Sweden until the end of the 19th century.
Forest pig culture definitely ceased in Sweden in connection with the Second World War. A pair of spotted pigs of an older kind were rescued in 1952 by skånezoo. And from the conservation that took place there was formed in the early 1990s the country breed Linderöds- pigs. The association Lantsvinet was founded in 1992 to preserve and protect linderödssvinet as an unrefined country breed and to promote healthy and natural pig husbandry.
We who take care of a Linderödssvin do an important cultural duty.
FAST FACTS ABOUT LINDERÖDSVINET (source: Skansen)
Scientific name: Sus scrofa domestica
Family: swine
Weight: male (boar) about 250 kg and female (sow) about 150 kg
Mank height: about 1 m
Maturity: 1-1,5 years for sows
Mating time: usually in autumn
Gestation period: about 115 days
Number of chicks: 4-12 chicks
Average lifespan: 8-10 years, sometimes up to 20 years
Eats: mostly plants
QUICK FACTS ABOUT HEEDORA CHICKENS
Scientific name: Gallus gallus domesticus
Order: birds of prey
Family: field hens
Weight: rooster 2-2.5kg and hen 1.5-2kg
Sexual maturity: 20 weeks
Ruvning: 3 weeks
Number of chicks: up to 20 chicks
Average lifespan: up to 10 years
Eats: plants and small animals
"HEDEMORA CHICKENS"
Hedemorahönan var förr mycket vanlig i trakten runt Hedemora i Dalarna[/title_subtitle][vc_column_text]12 juni 2020 kom 25 Hedemora kycklingar till Öråkers Gård, ca 5 dagar gamla. De bodde första två veckorna i ladan och flyttade sedan ut till hönshuset.
Humans have probably kept chickens as pets for as long as she has been a resident. They existed in every household and eventually developed different races in different areas. The origin of our domestic chickens is the wild chicken genus Gallus in Southeast Asia.
Hedemorahönan used to be very common in the area around Hedemora in Dalarna. Due to the chilly climate there, the hen has developed characteristics that a bird in southern Sweden does not have. This is shown, among other things, by the fact that there is an extra down on the underside of the springs, so-called bidun. The bee dust makes the plumage both dense and abundant and the chicken looks bigger and stronger than it really is. In some cases, the down grows on the bird's legs and it looks as if the chicken is wearing pants.
The color of the feathers varies in black, gray and brown shades. The breed is relatively heavy with a upweight around 2.5 kg. Hedmorahnan is a very good keeper with good parenting qualities.
Hedemorahönan was very close to disappearing in the 1970s, when the vast majority of Sweden's old country fowl were crossed with laying hybrids. In 1982, a genetically intact herd was found in Dalarna and all current gene bank animals originated from this herd.
"SWEDISH COUNTRY DUCKS"
There are four Swedish country breeds of ducks: Swedish blue duck, Swedish yellow duck, blekingeduck and Swedish myskanka. Our Swedish ducks are descended from the mallard, all except the musk. About five hundred years ago, Swedish farmers began to keep tamänder – ducks. Then they had duck meat and eggs to eat at home on the farm.
The ankhan is called duckling and the female only duck. The chicks are called elves and they can both walk and swim as soon as they hatch from the eggs. Ducks and ducks are nesters, which means that the chicks do not remain in the nest to be fed. Together they instead follow the mother to seek food themselves. They stay together in groups but live dangerously, they easily become the very food for predators. Therefore, birds that are nesters have large hills. However, tamankor are often better protected because they live close to humans.
Swedish blue ducks are simänder, they dip head and neck in the water to access the food. Ducks swim well but just as often seek their food on land. They like to graze grasses and plants on land during the day, but spend the night in water – there they are safer against foxes and other predators.
Swedish yellow duck is derived from a herd of various Scanian lantankor and was produced in the 20th century. The yellow color of the duck is constantly inherited and can vary from yellowish-brown to yellowish-white. The ankhan has a light ash brown color on the head and neck, but is incidentally yellow. The feathersuit of the duck female is uniformly yellow, but it may also appear to be melerad.
COLD FEET
Ducks have webbing between their toes, which works very well in water but worse on land. They have heat exchangers in the legs and feet which means that the heat in the blood is recycled into the body so that the bird will not lose so much energy in winter. So ducks have cold feet, and that's the point – then they can stand on ice and snow without freezing.
QUICK FACTS ABOUT SWEDISH BLUE DUCK AND YELLOW DUCK
<strong style="font-family: 'Courier Prime', sans-serif; color: var( --e-global-color-secondary ); font-size: 1rem;">Vetenskapligt namn</strong>: Anas platyrhynchos domesticus
Family: ducks
Weight: 3-3.5kg (blue duck) and 2.5-3-5kg (yellow duck)
Ruvning: about 28 days
Number of young: 5-10 per litter (blue) 4-18 per litter (yellow)
Life expectancy: about 5-10years (blue) up to 28years (yellow)
Eats: plants and small animals