Icelandic
(most common name)

(local/other name):
• Icelandic Cattle
• Icelandic Dairy Cattle
• Islandsk kvæg (Denmark)
• Islandska Mjölkurkýrinn
• Íslenskir Nautgripir

It is believed that Irish monks were the first people to set foot on Iceland in the 6th century. They may have brought cattle. Many people fled from Norway to Iceland during the wars of the 9th century. They definitely brought cattle. (The Vikings may have even brought cattle.)

Despite demographic bottlenecks caused by such things as bad weather and volcanic eruptions, the Icelandic has retained a lot of genetic diversity. There are dairy herds and beef herds. For the production of crossbred beef animals — Galloway, Aberdeen-Angus and Limousin are used.

An interesting study of a possible relationship between the health of humans and the genetics of their food animals proposed that the lower fraction of certain caseins in the milk of the Icelandic could be linked to a lower incidence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in Icelandic people (Thorsdottir et al., 2000).

(Icelandic) Íslenskir Nautgripir = Icelandic Cattle

This page was last updated on: 2024-06-18

You can also go to:

My Daily Cow® Iceland and read about other Icelandic cattle breeds.

The Cow Wall® A-Z Cattle Breed Picture Reference to see other breeds of cattle in the world.