Development of Cika cattle breed

Cika cattle is the only Slovenian autochthonous cattle breed. It originates from Bohinj where breeders bred their own »cow families« and by doing so they kept a relatively high milk yield of Bohinj cows. They did not buy cows outside of Bohinj, only the bulls were purchased by the cooperatives at the cattle breeding fairs. Cika cattle was a widely used breed until the sixties of previous century, primarily as a dairy breed. Political decision made in 1964 significantly reduced the population in the following years. Our research was focused on the study of historical sources which show the development of Cike cattle in the Republic of Slovenia. We have put special emphasis on zootechnical characterization, genealogy, livestock geography, morphology and milk production of Cika cattle.