Conference paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/ydkx2co6e9
Breeding Potential of Slavonian Syrmian Podolian Cattle in Slavonia and Baranja
Mirna Gavran
orcid.org/0000-0002-9158-7825
; Fakultet agrobiotehničkih znanosti Sveučilišta Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Osijek, Hrvatska
Alka Turalija
; Fakultet agrobiotehničkih znanosti Sveučilišta Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Osijek, Hrvatska
Vesna Gantner
; Fakultet agrobiotehničkih znanosti Sveučilišta Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku, Osijek, Hrvatska
Abstract
Slavonian Syrmian podolian cattle was, at the beginning of the 20th century the most wide-spread and the most important breed of cattle in Baranja, Syrmia and Slavonia as well as in Podravina up to Virovitica where it represented around 90 % of the total number of cattle and was used as a drought animal for farm labour. Due to its small population, the breed is defined as critically endangered even though the Association of Slavonian Syrmian podolian cattle breeders has been active trying to protect and preserve it since its foundation in 2008. Nowadays podolian cattle is not used for farm labour any more but for ecological meat production with the goal of repurposing unused and neglected areas that the breed has been historically associated with, along with the effort to preserve biological diversity and protected areas of countryside. Low productivity is just one of the many problems that breeders are faced with. Other problems include: product marketing, lack of product recognition, administrative restrictions regarding the five-year breeding commitment that is regulated through financial support for indigenous and protected breeds and finally, lack of this support. On the other hand there is another indigenous breed, the Istrian cattle, whose meat is a gastronomic brand of Istria. Twenty years ago, the breed was on the verge of extinction and today its population is about 2000. The number is slowly but steadily growing, owing to the sense of connectedness that the Istrians have with the breed that every family used to own in the past and to their commitment to finding new ways of using the meat. With the purpose of introducing it to a wider public, the meat of Boskarin is now served in a number of restaurants along with a whole range of dried-meat products, delicately spiced and enjoyed with a variety of Istrian wines. Slavonia has the natural resources and potentials for creating such a brand, following the Istrian model, and making its cattle breed recognisable in the market and eventually enjoyed by consumers worldwide. The benefit would be twofold. Besides bringing a high-quality ecological product on the market, an indigenous breed would be protected and preserved, which is not only valuable in the cultural and natural sense but also in the sense of preserving valuable genetic material.
Keywords
Slavonian Syrmian podolian cattle; potential; meat; protection; brand.
Hrčak ID:
306738
URI
Publication date:
18.7.2023.
Visits: 796 *