Fehér György szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1992-1994 (Budapest, 1994)

SZŐLLŐSY GÁBOR: Két kísérlet a magyar szürke szarvasmarha megmentésére

the Hungarian Grey cattle, then to its falling into the background around the turn of the century. Stockbreeders wanted to prevent the Hungarian Grey cattle from the extinction in view of its valuable characteristics (sound constitution, resistance to diseases, excellent usability for draught, high concentration milk). From among these efforts, the paper gives account of the two most important ones before 1945. The first one took place in the first decades of the 20th century within the framework of the Association of Breeders of the Transylvanian Type Hungarian Cattle. The essence of the method is that hidden capabilities of a variety can be brought to the surface by intensive feeding of the animal at young age. Using this method, members of the Association attained results in milk and meat production which significantly surpassed former production parameters of the Hungarian Grey cattle, while preserving excellent draught characteristics and sound constitution of the variety. Extensive spreading of the method was hindered partly by the fact that it required its appliers to have an extremely high-level expertise, partly by the outbreak of World War I and political situation after the war. The second attempt to save the variety was directed by the National Association of Breeders of Hungarian Cattle, in the 1930s-40s. It was based on the perception that in the field of milk and meat production Hungarian Grey cattle had a handicap that could not be made up, so the variety had to be preserved first of all as draught cattle. The traditional method of keeping cows in herds was therefore revived. From among the smallholders cows those with best performance and stature were arranged into herds of fifty. One bull belonged to each of these herds, so the pedigree of the calves could be reliably controlled. The author describes details concerning the practice of herds of fifty, relying on data gathered by himself on the Hortobágy plain.