Fifteen years have gone by since the initiation of the breed-back programme of the Maltese cow. timesofmalta.com dropped by at the Ghammieri Government Farm, to check how the lean, huge, cows are faring.

The story of the Maltese cow - saved by a hair’s breath – thanks to the prompt action taken at the very last moment, has the happy ending of a fairytale. It’s a miracle story of how biodiversity was saved from perishing.

The Maltese indigenous cow is considered to be a species which can be traced back to the prehistoric era – as is evidenced by the etchings of bulls on some of the stonework in our prehistoric temples.

The breed-back programme started in the early nineties when the authorities were alerted to the fact that the last indigenous Maltese bull has passed away. “At that point there were only three indigenous female cows left, in the care of Paul Saliba in Zejtun,” said Mark Brincat, of the Department of Maternity and Reproductive Medicine at the University of Malta.

A decision was taken to inseminate one of the females with a ‘related’ bull from Europe. She gave birth to a calf and that in turn was mated with a pure cow. “That’s breed-back programme scheme. Gradually we got a bull which can be classified as ‘pure breed’,” said Prof Brincat. Nowadays Malta has a herd of more than 20 indigenous cows.

What are the main characteristics of a Maltese cow? “The domesticated Maltese cow was not a food source, but a muscle force. They do not have any fat and are very lean. They were crucial in the building of the temples and local churches. These are very calm and tranquil cows. They are resistant to the sun, whereas other cows can’t stand it,” said Prof Brincat.

Prof Brincat said that it would have been a tragedy had we not managed to save the species: “Just to give you an idea it would have been worse than losing one of the Neolithic temples, because with the loss of such a species, an aspect of biodiversity would have been lost.”

The plan is for the indigenous cows to be relocated to private farms. “In future when we would have bred enough we will distribute them to farmers. We also plan to relocate some to farms in Gozo so that we won’t have the herd in just one place,” said Noel Azzopardi, acting director of the Department of Agriculture.

Farmers will be eligible for financial subsidies and European Union grants if they keep a Maltese bull on their farm. “They won’t be used to work the land - nowadays there’s machinery for that - but our aim is to keep the Maltese cow alive,” said Mr Azzopardi.

The cows cannot be bred for meat production, as they are very lean, nor are they bred to produce a lot of milk: “They produce just enough for their calves,” said Mr Azzopardi, “however because of their make up, their milk is very fatty and extremely nutritious - the best of its kind.”

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