Grey Cattle

Cattle herding on the Hortobágy was practised in the traditional way, even at the beginning of the 20th century. As it is recorded by István Ecsedi in an almost dramatic manner: the cattle usually kept poorly int he winter lives under the open sky of the Lord from springtime until the autumn; it does not have sufficient forage and water to drink during the often dry period; the primitive resting-places do not provide real protection, it has to lie ont he muddy, cold ground; and the hot sun also tells upon men and cattle as well. So such a breed should be kept that is able to bear all kinds of difficulties. Only the Hungarian Grey cattle was adapted for being raised on the Hortobágy puszta.

 The Hungarian Steppe cow weighs an average of 535 kg, with a height at the withers of 135 cm. The average bull weighs 700 kg and stands 150 cm at the withers.

It was a long-lasting belief that the Magyars of the Conquest brought this breed with themselves, and later the Cumanians were believed to be the ones who neutralized it. However, it seems more probable that this race was bred here, in the Carpathian Basin. The smaller cattle brought by the Hungarians was cross-bred with the large, ancient steer found here. From this aspect, the term “Hungarian Grey Cattle” is justified. A Transylvanian variant of the same cattle was known and, at the turn of the century, a bluish-grey, so-called kun (Cumanian) breed in the Kunság was also recorded.

Nonius

ORIGIN

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Austrian Imperial Armies captured several young stallions from a French farm at Rosiéres, including a light-chestnut Anglo-Norman stallion called Nonius, which was assigned to Mezőhegyes in 1816. Nonius Senior was kept there for 17 years from 1816, during which time he mated with 368 mares, resulting in the birth of 79 stallion and 122 mare foals
 

APPEARANCE

As regards the origin of the breed it is largely an English thoroughbred, one of the most common warm-blooded yoke horses. Two main types have developed over the years, the larger and usually black Mezőhegyesi and the smaller, leaner and primarily chestnut Hortobágyi. The main peculiarity of the Nonius is its slightly rough half ram's head - in some cases a ram's head in proportion to the size of the body.

Sizes: biting height measured by stick 155 - 165 cm, biting height measured by tape 167 - 180 cm.
Colours chestnut, dark chestnut and black.
 

USE

It has a calm temperament, and is a solid-bodied, persistent, yoke horse. Presently used primarily for agricultural work, but some of the better trotting individuals are successful on the international stage in carriage sport. If kept for a hobby, it can be the family's horse for all purposes, since it is equally at home in a carriage or under the saddle.
 

Racka

The ancient Hungarian sheep, the RACKA, has long curly wool and a unique, noble head with twisted horns. Its homogeneous features and color developed over thousands of years of breeding, due to the sharp eyes, excellent taste, and instinctively good sense of breeding of the Hungarian shepherds.

The racka lives only in territories inhabited by Hungarians. It is an enduring, stout animal like the Hungarian horse, and it can live in pastures where other species of sheep would perish.
 

The Hungarian sheep, like the grey cattle, was both a "living tin" and a milk-producing animal. Our ancestors dried the meat and made felt from the wool of the racka. The felt was used to cover their yurts and for embroidered frieze coats (SZŨR). The skin of the sheep was used several ways: as fur coats, wide sheepskin coats (SUBA), doublets, and other articles.

There are about five hundred species of sheep in the world. The Hungarian sheep had two subspecies in the Carpathian Basin: the racka was bred on the Great Hungarian Plain (this is the Hortobágy breed) and the so-called cigája was raised in Transylvania. Herds of merino sheep were brought into Hungary in the 18th Century, which changed the breeds.