Cabannina Cow
Production area: Val d'Aveto, Valle Scrivia (Province of Genova).
Product features:
Cabannina cow is a small-size cow: males reach at withers 125cm and females 118cm. The average weigh is about 400 kilos. Of particular interest the big abdominal size giving it the opportunity to swallow coarse fodder, not very appreciated by milk animals of different breeds. The head is small, the eyes are dark, lively, and clever; the ears are big; it has medium-long horns, thin, white at the base and with a black tip, heading outwards, upwards, and slightly backwards; the mantle is dark brown, sometimes light brown with shades. The back is characterized by a very light stripe (cream color) with reddish shades. The limbs are characterized by good muscles giving the animal a great agility. Its features of great and tough grazing cow able to climb or enter steep areas covered by thick bushes make this cow ideal for the territory of Liguria.
Curiosities
Also Liguria can boast to be the birthplace of an autochthonous cattle breed, the result of a natural biological selection of hundreds of years: Cabannina cow. This cow was bred in the Apennines, in the area of Genovesato and can be currently found mainly in its area of origin: the plain of Cabanne, after which it has been named. Here in Val d'Aveto, the particular climatic conditions and the need to use as pasture inaccessible areas dominated by shrubs do not allow (and make it economically not profitable) replacing it with other breeds.
This cow has always been bred for its ability to use the spontaneous natural resources of the territory, with very few integrations from the outside. This genetic type is the result of biological evolution, and consequently its products (milk, cheese) are the most representative of the production area.
At table
Cabannina cow was bred in the past both for its meat and milk. Today it is bred almost exclusively for the milk from which a very good cheese is obtained, with different features according to the production area.
