In Slow Food Ukraine, we have spent a lot of time wondering why in Ukraine we have practically no cheese tradition, except for fresh cheese or ricotta, which we love very much, eat a lot, and actively use in cooking. The ancient traditional technologies for cheese made from sheep's and goat's milk - the bryndza - are passed down both in the Carpathians and in dry Bessarabia, where there is no possibility of grazing herds of cows. Instead, central Ukraine, the forest steppe, has long been famous for its cows.
The cow was seen as a source of strength, prosperity, and health because it was part of people's daily lives and was an important element in the spirituality of the people.
The Ukrainian gray cow has accompanied the lives of Ukrainians for thousands of years: they drank and ate its milk and dairy products, in difficult times they were used to plow the land, and the castrated bulls - the oxen - were considered the strongest animals and, before the advent of tractors, pulled the plows. Chumak merchants traveled on carts pulled by gray oxen to Crimea for salt trade, spending weeks on the road and using the Milky Way for navigation.
The gray Ukrainian is a breed for meat and milk.
It therefore produces relatively little milk but with an excellent fat content. Its meat is not similar to that of the Charolais breed; it is meat that must be stewed, boiled, or ground in a meat grinder, so you won't find steaks in Ukrainian cuisine. The meat is cooked for a long time, immersed in sauces or sour cream, otherwise, it is used as minced meat. Its milk was never too much; they would milk enough for daily needs, and in winter they would use more pork and lard instead.
The resistance of this cow to viruses is phenomenal; it easily tolerates heat and cold, which indicates strong genes. Moreover, it "easily unleashes" itself, and if put in the right conditions, it can quickly return to a wild state, create its own family herd, and live without human intervention. If raised with care, it becomes friendly and sociable, but it will always recognize and protect its kind, even among a herd of cows of different breeds.
It seems idyllic, but it is not all that simple. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were millions of "sulfur heads" (the name given for the typical color of the top of the head) in Ukraine, most of which were sold and transported to Austria-Hungary and beyond, even to Italy, during the "hungry" years of World War I. The rest of the livestock was practically destroyed by the famine of the 1930s, forced collectivization, World War II, and the Soviet laws that prohibited farmers from having their own livestock. Therefore, there are only a few specimens in private hands and hundreds of heads in state facilities (like in the Askanya Nova reserve, farms of the Academy of Sciences).
The restoration of the farms was supposed to be the responsibility of the State, but in reality, it is being done by one person, a passionate individual, veterinarian, dreamer, and practitioner: Mikhail Travetsky. Having worked in large agro-industrial companies, he realized that that approach did not align with his vision of farming. Mikhail then made a change of course and literally devoted his life to restoring
The breeds of Ukrainian cows:
Grey, steppe red, or the white-headed breed
On February 24, 2022, at the initiative of Slow Food in Ukraine, a round table on funding for the program for the conservation of indigenous cattle breeds was supposed to be held, for which we (scientists, farmers, and activists) had worked for several years.
But the war erased all plans. And only a week after the invasion, it was found that the roads were blocked by Russian tanks and that the Askania Nova nature reserve was occupied, leaving the fate of the animals unknown. A request for help with feed for the herd came from Mikhail Travetsky, as the existing supplies would last only 2 days. Thank God activists from slow food around the world quickly began sending donations, and we managed to save cows, chickens, and sheep.
Unfortunately, today the war continues, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for farmers (those who are not yet at the front) to sell their products without subsidies from the State; The slaughter of cattle began on the eve of a harsh winter without electricity (80% of energy production has been destroyed by missiles). Therefore, my friend Maya Stepova and I decided to buy a cow of a rare Ukrainian breed (steppe red) when we heard that they would be slaughtered.
And yes, I bought a COW! This awareness warms my soul and continues to surprise me for several months now. I will meet her soon, because I haven’t seen her yet except in photos. I’m planning a trip to the farm on August 21.
I was born and live in Kyiv, my grandmothers were doctors and pharmacists, none of my relatives lived in the countryside; the only cows I saw were those from the train windows and once, when I was a child, at my friends' dacha someone gave me fresh milk to try. I still remember the amazing and wonderful taste of this warm drink.
The issue of protecting local breeds of cows
I was already aware from my experience with Slow Food. The rapid decline in their numbers, pasture-raised animals, the importance of quality milk, the difference between the various types of cheeses, and in general, I reflected on the theme of interdependence between humans and animals, at all levels. Before the war, round tables were held, articles were written, but true awareness came when entire villages, cut off from supplies by military operations, were fed by those two or three remaining cows, when explosions of substations and blackouts led to the collapse of large dairy companies, and the absence of these farms - of fields to walk in - resulted in the hunger and death of the animals.
South-eastern Ukraine is a steppe; these are regions where traditionally not only agricultural production but also livestock farming has developed. It is these regions that are now turning into scorched earth, and the continuous bombings near the front lines are forcing farmers to sell their cows for meat.
The same fate would have befallen the herd of my steppe red cow. Before the war, we named this breed for the Ark of Taste, there were about three thousand of them, but no one knows how many heads there are now, because they were mainly raised in the regions of Crimea, Donetsk, and Zaporozhye. In addition to the terracotta color, this cow is distinguished by its excellent milk and high resistance to life in the steppe and drought, which is very important in light of climate change. Under normal world conditions, this breed would have an excellent potential for revival.
When I discovered that the next dairy herd in the Zaporozhye region, due to the continuous bombings that do not allow either people or animals to live, would be sent to slaughter or sold, I mentally prepared for the fact that I would have to raise money for the ransom of the cows.
And that's how Milana, a red steppe, appeared in my life.
She was transported to a farm near the city of Dnipro, is waiting for a calf, grazing freely under the watchful eye of the beautiful Polina Zhovtyak, a farmer whose husband and eldest daughter are at the front, and she (alone) sows, grows, and protects everything.
