Spread of Foreign Cattle in Lithuania in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods

Abstract

In the present study we review the questions of how and from where western European animal husbandry innovations , of which the most important were the larger and more productive Dutch cattle, spread to Lithuania in the early seventeenth century. Most of the information revealing this process came from historical sources, although we also sought clues in zooarchaeological data. We found that the high prices and demanding nature of Dutch cattle led to them being acquired and bred only by the wealthiest magnates who owned large networks of interdependent estates. This study shed light on very interesting and significant facts about the specific features of cattle hus-bandry, which, due to various reasons, involved regular movement of cattle from one estate to another. This study also showed that despite huge efforts to maintain adequate care and feeding the imported cattle and their initially successful introduction in the first half of seventeenth century, the innovations pioneered by most progressive magnates were cut short as a result of later historical circumstances , such as wars, disease, and famine, and were only renewed in the early nineteenth century.