irish moiled cattle.

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let us talk about irish moiled cattle.

what are irish moiled cattle ?

'moiled' means bald, or hornless, in the irish language - 'maol.' they are a rare breed of red and white cattle with a white stripe down their back. they may have been the cattle of the vikings. they are hardy and thrifty cattle, and pre-date the modern continental breeds which came to ireland with intensive modern farming systems. even the shorthorn came in with improved crop rotations and winter fodder. cattle have been in many parts of ireland longer than fields. moiled cattle browse as well as graze. 'browse' means eat leaves, 'graze' means eat grass. so they are easily kept. googling will find you a photo . . .

in a situation where normal systems such as electricity supply broke down, or became intermittent and unreliable, moiled cattle would do well. to keep a few robust pre industrial animals should be an insurance policy against unlikely but not impossible armageddon. and even when the whole of this country is levelled and drained and has intensive animal housing built upon it - there will be places among the hills and bogs where land improvement is unprofitable or just impossible.
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