🇮🇸 The cattle breeds of Iceland

Iceland's cattle descend from stock brought by Norwegian settlers in the latter part of the ninth century. Long second to sheep on Icelandic farms, cattle grew fast through the twentieth century and now share the lead in livestock keeping, valued mainly for milk. The country raises all its own meat and dairy.

• Norwegian settlers brought cattle to Iceland in the late ninth century.
• Cattle supplied most dairy food on early farms, stored away for the winter.
• Cattle numbers grew rapidly in Iceland during the twentieth century.
• Iceland's long summer daylight makes its fodder grass grow especially well.
• Iceland is self-sufficient in meat, dairy food and eggs.

Cattle in Iceland

Icelandic cattle keeping began with Norwegian settlers who settled along the coasts in the latter part of the ninth century, bringing cattle among their first farm animals, alongside sheep, horses and goats. For generations sheep, not cattle, were the chief animals of Icelandic farms; during the twentieth century, though, cattle numbers grew quickly. The cow's main job has always been milk. On the early farms cattle supplied most of the dairy food, which was stored to see the household through winter, and the animals were eaten too. Farming as a whole has shrunk: in the nineteenth century most Icelanders lived by farming, but today only a small share do. Livestock raising remains the main farm occupation, and the country produces all the meat and dairy food it needs.

Milk, butter and beef

The cow is the dairy animal of Iceland. On the early farms cattle supplied most of the dairy food, laid down in store to carry the household through winter, and cattle meat was eaten as well. Today the country is self-sufficient in meat, dairy food and eggs, with livestock raising as the main farm work. The clean environment helps: with few insect pests and little pollution, farmers use very few chemicals, and a small but growing organic sector has built on that advantage.

Today

Cattle farming expanded fast during the twentieth century and now stands beside sheep at the centre of Icelandic livestock keeping, with the country making all the meat, dairy food and eggs it needs. Yet farming employs fewer and fewer people: from seven or eight Icelanders in ten in the nineteenth century to under five in a hundred now, with the number expected to keep falling. Only one percent of the land is cultivated, nearly all in the lowland edges of the country.