History: DNA analyzes reveal a shared history between Switzerland and cows

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Researchers from the University of Basel investigated how the size and genetic diversity of cows has changed over the course of history, the University of Basel said on Monday. The results were recently published in the journal “Diversity.”

Domestic cattle have been common in what is now Switzerland for about 7,500 years, according to the authors. Since then, cattle have been of great economic importance as a source of meat and milk as well as a worker.

Therefore, cow bones are a treasure for studies of the past. “Exactly because farm animals live so closely with humans, their remains are a wealth of information on socio-cultural changes: new forms of housing, diets, population size, agricultural practices,” Basel archaeozoologist Sabine Deschler-Erb said in a statement.

For example, researchers noticed an increase in genetic diversity in cattle in the 1st century BC. At that time the Romans settled north of the Alps and brought cows with them from their homeland. Local heritage mixed with that of the cows they brought with them.

At the same time, cattle grew larger during this period, according to the analysis. Increasing population required larger arable land and larger workforce. According to research, these traits were bred through breeding.

When the Romans retreated again in the third and fourth centuries AD, cows shrank again and the gene pool became simpler. Because in the early Middle Ages agriculture became more fragmented again and people became increasingly self-sufficient. Large cattle, which needed a lot of space and feed, were more disadvantaged for a single farm.

(SDA)

Source : Blick