February 7, 2008

esterday my co-worker & boss brought in some very cool stuff to show me. Her family was from Estonia before World War II. They fled the war and came to Canada. My friend and her family went back to Estonia a couple years ago and she showed me pictures and items from there. The one I want to share with you today is a wooden canteen that is very common for the farmers to take into the fields.  She said until about 7-10 years ago their town only had public wells and public outhouses as they had no running water until then. 

Like a regular wooden wine keg or wooden rain barrel, keeping water inside the canteen makes the wood swell so there is no leaks. She said these canteens were very common in that country. I like learning about agriculture in different parts of the world. The farmers, or in their language, polluharijas,in 1999 had 3,541,200 acres into agricultural lands.


Principal crops in Estonia in 2001 included potatoes, 343,100 tons; barley, 270,000 tons; wheat, 133,000 tons; rye, 42,900 tons; and legumes, 6,500 tons. 

There are 4 breeds of domestic livestock which originated in Estonia as well. A hog called Estonian Bacon and there are approximately 122,000 of them. 

 In 1944, a population of 300 Estonian Ruhnu sheep were documented. The current population of the breed is only around 30 animals. It is thought that Estonian Ruhnu sheep were originally raised for producing meat and wool. 

The Estonian native cattle is a dairy cattle breed from there. At present, 362 females are registered in the herdbook. The breed is characterized by longevity, resistance to the local conditions, easy calving, a low food consumption per unit of production and milk yield with high fat (4.77%) and protein (3.44%) content.

The Tori horse also comes from Estonia and comes mainly in the colors black, bay, palomino, chestnut and liver chestnut. There are fewer than 100 purebreds and only three purebred studs remaining.

Now you know of why I am concerned about our disappearing livestocks in North American, but other places as well. Over 60 breeds go extinct each year worldwide.

Thanks for bringing in all the goodies to work today K. I really enjoyed them.