Cattle

Western Fjord Cattle
The Western Fjord originated in the fjords of western Norway.
In the late 1800s there were attempts to establish numerous local breeds, and nearly every fjord was to have its own breed standard. The standards were divided among the various regions:
• Sunnhordland: red, polled
• Midthordland: black, horned
• Nordhordland: black/black-sided, horned/polled
• Ytre Sogn: black/black-sided, horned
• Indre Sogn: red, horned
• Sunnfjord: black/grey, polled
• Nordfjord: black/grey, horned
• Sunnmøre: grey, polled
• Nordmøre, Romsdal: black-sided, polled
This division soon caused problems due to inbreeding. Thus, pedigree records were merged into one breed, which was called Western Fjord. In 1947, Western Fjord and Western Red Polled merged into what was called South and Western cattle, mainly due to inbreeding problems in Western Fjord. However, when conservation measures were initiated in the 1980s, Western Fjord and Western Red Polled were kept as separate breeds. Today’s Western Fjord show considerable colour variation, including black, brown, red, white, roan and brindle. Colour patterns include unicoloured, spotted and colour-sided. Some animals have horns or horn stubs, but many are polled.