Faeroes cattle
(most common name in English)

(most common name):
• Færøsk
(transboundary/brand name):
• Holstein (red and white)
(local/other name):
• Færøerne
• Færøs
local/other name (English):
• Faeroes
• Faeroe Islands cattle
local/other name (Icelandic):
• Færöeske
local/other name (Norwegian):
• Færoesk

In one 18th century census, Faeroes cattle numbers were more than half the human population count of the Faeroe Islands (a self-governing archipelago belonging to Denmark). The islands are rocky so they were not used for ploughing, instead mostly for dairy. They had small bodies, short legs and long thick coats to keep them warm. They had a variety of coat colors, including black, white, red, grey, brown and yellow.

Today, the majority of Faeroes cattle are red-and-white due to imports from Norway (and Denmark) of red Friesian and primarily the Norwegian Red which have, over time, been used to upgrade most of the population. However, as of 2006, microsatellite studies of seven individuals support claims that a small number of relicts of the original breed still remain on the islands.

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-17

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