Animals in Elonkierto
The animals arrive at the park from local farms between May and June and stay around mid-September. For those interested in animals, the best time to visit the park is probably in the morning or early evening, when many of the animals are most active. The animals of Elonkierto are curious and social, but visitors should not assume that they will waiting for you right at the gate. When you wait patiently, the animals may come to you next to the fence. It is strictly forbidden to enter the animals’ enclosures and they must not be given snacks. Goats can be fed with clover and dandelions.
LANDRACE CHICKENS
The six chickens in Elonkierto represent Jussila’s stock, which is named after Jussila house in Valkeakoski. The roots of this highly endangered breed of chicken date back to the 1930s.
Landrace chicken tolerates cool conditions reasonably well and knows how to look for food directly from nature during the summer. In addition to foraging, landraces also keep other instinctive traits, such as hatching instincts and caring for offspring. Landrace hens are also considered adept at flying and when they are free, they sometimes spend their nights in trees.
The Finnish landrace chicken is known as a long-lived and healthy breed. On average, it lives to be 5-7 years old, but even a chicken over 10 years old is not a rarity. Chicken has good disease resistance, diversity of MHC-region has been found behind this.
The Finnish landrace chicken has a unique genome. There are references to both white and brown egg-laying lines, in the Finnish landrace, as well as heavier breeds of chickens, which are the ancestors of broilers. On the other hand, crossbreeding with imported breeds has been sporadic and has not left a significant impact on the genome of landraces. Based on studies, it can also be assumed that the Finnish landrace hen is closer to the eastern origin than, for example, commercial egg-laying lineages.
The preservation of the landrace chicken was formalised in 1998 by setting up the Finnish Landrace Chicken Conservation Programme. The programme is led by the Natural Resources Institute Finland and ten stocks to be preserved have been proven.
CATTLE
In the past, landrace breeds were mainly used in milk production. In recent decades, they have been in danger of disappearing altogether. Finn cattle consists of three different breeds, Western, Eastern (called “kyyttö”), and Northern race. Finn cattle is a natural, human-friendly breed that diligently observes its environment. Finn cattle is well adapted to Finnish conditions and scarcity. They do well in forest pasture. Domestic cattle are usually hornless, i.e. nubs.
The maintenance of Finnish livestock and the promotion of vitality is also both culturally and historically valuable and relevant in terms of biodiversity. Grazing in a natural environment is one of the few ways of food production that improves natural biodiversity. Grazing animals help save traditional habitats that are disappearing, such as meadows and heathlands, and the endangered animal and plant species that live in them.
In the summer of 2024, 1,5-year-old western Finnish cattle heifers Usva and Utu will graze in Elonkierto. They have arrived from Tampere, AhlmanEdu cattle farm, where genetically valuable Finnish cattle are maintained.
The uniformly reddish-brown Western Finn cattle are the largest of our landraces. Western Finn cattle is one of the world’s highest-yielding domestic cattle breeds. There are about 1500 cows and the population is declining worryingly.
PIGS
Pigs Pipsa (engl. “Peppa”) (country pig) and Ressu (yorkshire) spend the summer in Elonkierto. In order to prevent African swine fever, a double enclosure has been built in Elonkierto, inside one part of which people can see the pigs quite closely during the day. If you can’t see the pigs, they might be buried in the straw. They playfully play with a ball, bite sticks and take mud baths. The employees of Elonkierto also apply mud by hand on their backs, which protects them from the sun.
HORSES
Light-bristle gelding named Kankalon Angeliina (b. 2017) and light chestnut mare Totemimmi (b. 2007) and Totemimmi’s foal, the dark gelding Ylijoudon Ymmi (b. 2021), graze in Elonkierto.
The Finnish horse is the national horse of Finland and the only original horse breed developed in Finland. There are about 20,000 Finn horses, which is one-third of the total number of horses in Finland. Warm-blooded horses are mainly used as riding and trotting horses, but the Finn horse is also suitable for work use. By nature, the Finnish horse is cooperative, enterprising, functional and humble. The Finnish horse has the best traction technology in the world – they pull twice as much load as their weight.
PONIES
Three ponies are spending their summer in Elonkierto: 1-year-old Gotland mare Indica Wee (Indi) and 2-year-old Shetland pony mares Harmony Wee (Puntti) and Hope Wee (Puhvi).
The Gotlanninruss, or russpony, is a Swedish country breed of origin. It has lived since time immemorial on the island of Gotland, where even today a herd of Russians roams almost freely throughout the year. The Russpony is an easy-to-care-for family pony, with a brisk, learning and lively nature. As a trotting pony, Russ is the fastest in the world.
The Shetland pony comes from the Shetland Islands in Great Britain. It is one of the oldest and purest pony breeds in the world. The Shetland pony is the most common pony breed in Finland (approx. 8,500).
GOATS
The goats of the Elonkierto are Finnish goats, of which there are approximately four and a half thousand in Finland.
The goat is an active, curious, stubborn and intelligent ungulate that is very skilled and agile in climbing. The Finn goat has a light build and their coloring varies from whitish white to mottled gray, there are also brown and black individuals. It can be horned or hornless. A long-lived goat can live to be almost twenty years old.
SHEEP
The rams Einari (Gotlan fur and Leicester cross) and Otto (Suffolk cross) and 12 lambs graze in Elonkierto.
There are about 155,000 sheep in Finland. In the spring, in March–April, an ewe gives birth to one to three lambs. A sheep is a true herd animal – the leader sets the pace and the flock follows him wherever he goes. Sheep produce wool, fur and meat and work in landscaping.
