Cold-hardy breeds
Thick double coats and stocky frames: Highland, Galloway, Yakutian cattle and the yak.
Cold-hardy cattle live outdoors through long, snowy winters with little shelter. They tend to be stocky and short-legged, with thick double coats, small ears and the ability to keep weight on coarse winter forage. The Highland and Galloway of Scotland are the best-known breeds, and the Yakutian cattle of Siberia are the hardiest of all. The yak takes the trait further, living above four thousand metres on the Tibetan plateau. In India, the small hill cattle of Ladakh and the Himalaya, and the yaks of Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, live with severe winters.
Coats and build
A cold-hardy coat has two layers: a long, coarse outer coat that sheds rain and snow, and a soft, dense undercoat that traps warm air. The Highland and Galloway grow this double coat each winter and shed it in summer. A compact, round body with short legs and small ears loses less heat than a tall, lean frame. Fat laid down under the skin in autumn adds insulation and a store of energy.
Yakutian cattle
The Yakutian cattle of the Sakha Republic in north-east Siberia are among the most cold-tolerant cattle in the world. They are small, with a thick coat, small udders covered in hair and a slow metabolism, and they stay out in winters where the temperature falls below minus fifty degrees. Once common in the region, they were largely replaced in the twentieth century by larger breeds, and a few small herds are now kept as a conservation priority.
Yak and Himalayan cattle
The yak, with its long skirt of hair, dense down and large lungs, is the cattle relative most at home in extreme cold. In India, Ladakhi cattle are small, hardy animals that live in the cold desert of Ladakh, and the Siri and Badri breeds keep going on the steep, cold slopes of Sikkim and Uttarakhand. In the Himalaya, crosses of yak and cattle are kept at middle heights, where they handle cold better than lowland cattle.
Worth knowing
- Highland: Long-haired Scottish breed that lives out on the hills all winter
- Galloway: Black, polled, double-coated breed of south-west Scotland
- Yakutian cattle: Small Siberian cattle, among the most cold-tolerant in the world
- Domestic yak: Bos grunniens of the Tibetan plateau and the Himalaya
- Icelandic cattle: Small northern breed kept in isolation for a thousand years
- Canadienne: Small dairy breed of Quebec, used to long winters
- Siri: Hill cattle of Sikkim, Darjeeling and Bhutan
Good to know
- Cold-hardy cattle still need a windbreak, dry ground to lie on and unfrozen water in winter.
- Do not clip or wash the winter coat; it only insulates when it is thick and dry.
- Feed more energy in very cold weather; cattle burn more feed to keep warm.
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Cold-hardy on EveryCow
The breeds written up so far, best known first.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreAyrshire
Red-and-white dairy cattle from south-west Scotland, hardy, long-lived and easy calversTaurine · Dairy · Easy calving
🇩🇪 Germany and 3 moreHeck
A German type bred in the 1920s to recreate the extinct aurochsTaurine · Grazing · Cold-hardy
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 4 moreGalloway
A polled black beef breed from south-west Scotland with a thick double coatTaurine · Beef · Cold-hardy
🇭🇷 Croatia and 5 moreBuša
A little mountain cow of the Balkans with short horns, kept for milk, meat and workTaurine · Triple-purpose · Disease-resistant
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreBelted Galloway
A polled Scottish beef breed with a distinctive white belt around its black body.Taurine · Beef · Cold-hardy
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan and 1 moreKazakh WhiteheadedҚазақтың ақбас сиыры
A Hereford-like beef breed from Kazakhstan and the lower Volga, horned and hardyTaurine · Beef · Cold-hardy
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreAbondance
A red and white dairy breed from the French Alps, kept for milk and mountain grazing.Taurine · Dairy · Heat-tolerant
🇸🇪 SwedenFjällSvensk fjällras
A polled, mostly white dairy cow from the Swedish mountains, hardy on thin grazing.Taurine · Dairy · Polled
🇵🇹 Portugal and 1 moreCachena
A small Iberian breed from northern Portugal and Galicia, kept for beef and formerly for draught work.Taurine · Beef · Docile
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreLuing
A hardy red or dun beef cow from Luing, a Hebridean island, first made in 1947Composite · Beef · Cold-hardy
🇸🇪 SwedenSwedish Red PolledRödkulla
A hornless red Swedish cow kept for milk and meat, once reduced to about 20 animals.Taurine · Dual-purpose · Polled
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreMurnau-Werdenfels
A long-lived brown dairy breed of the Bavarian uplands, milk and beefTaurine · Dairy · Long-lived
🇦🇹 AustriaTux-ZillertalTux-Zillertaler
A stocky Alpine breed from Tirol, black or red, once bred for cow-fighting contests.Taurine · Beef · Spirited
🇦🇹 Austria and 1 moreTyrol GreyTiroler Grauvieh
An alpine dual-purpose breed of the Tyrol, milked and fattenedTaurine · Dual-purpose · Cold-hardy
🇫🇷 FranceVosgienne
A medium-sized French breed from the Vosges mountains, kept for milk and meatTaurine · Dual-purpose · Cold-hardy
🇪🇸 Spain and 1 moreAlbera
A small cold-hardy breed of the Albera Massif, black or pale, used to clear scrubTaurine · Beef · Cold-hardy
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreHinterwaldHinterwälder Rind
A small Black Forest cow, white head and pied coat, kept for both milk and beefTaurine · Dual-purpose · Cold-hardy
🇪🇸 SpainPajuna
An endangered Andalusian breed, dark bulls and red-brown cows, once used for draught workTaurine · Draught · Cold-hardy
🇩🇪 GermanyHarzer Rotvieh
A solid red upland breed from the Harz, once kept for milk, beef and draught workTaurine · Dairy · Cold-hardy
🇸🇪 SwedenSwedish PolledSvensk Kullig Boskap
A hornless red dairy cow from Sweden, formed in 1937 from the Rödkulla and Fjäll breedsTaurine · Dairy · Polled
🇫🇮 FinlandFinncattle
Small, hornless Finnish dairy cattle in three types: red, white and red-and-whiteTaurine · Dairy · Polled
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Swedish Red Polled: Ankara, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Belted Galloway: Jamain, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Cachena: Rosino, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Kazakh Whiteheaded: Горбунова М.С., CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tux-Zillertal: Böhringer Friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Heck: 4028mdk09, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Tyrol Grey: Burkhard Mücke, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Finncattle: Eero Järnefelt, Public domain, source
- Vosgienne: Eponimm, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Luing: Andrew Wood, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Abondance: Walpole, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Murnau-Werdenfels: Pippo-b, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pajuna: DFoidl, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Fjäll: Yvonne Zimmermann, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source
- Galloway: GerardM, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Albera: Tylwyth Eldar, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Hinterwald: -- Xocolatl 10:55, 26 April 2008 (UTC), Public domain, source
- Harzer Rotvieh: Karen Alge, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ayrshire: Biggle, Jacob., Public domain, source
- Buša: P.Cikovac, CC BY-SA 4.0, source