Sønder Elkjær Gård

Facts

Minding the manor for 700 years

By Peter Bavnshøj, Cand.mag. i historie og middelalderarkæologi fra Aarhus Universitet 1990 (6 stories)

Sønder Elkjær Gård is an old manor that stands in the flat meadowland near Store Vildmose about 15 kilometres north of Aalborg. It was first mentioned in the year 1300. The present neo-gothic two-wing main building was built in 1887 by Harald Branth, the owner at that time, who was known for his agricultural prowess. The main building was once surrounded by a moat, which has now been filled in. The manor changed hands many times over the last 700 years, until its current owner, Steen Reventlow Mourier, bought it in 1969. The estate now covers 350 hectares.

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Driving cattle reforms

Story written by Peter Bavnshøj

Time / Periode 1873

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Harald Branth owned Sønder Elkjær Gård from 1873. He pioneered animal husbandry in Denmark at a time when Danish farming changed from grain production to livestock production. He chaired the Livestock Committee of the Jutland Farmers' Union for many years and was involved in breeding the special Jutland cattle in particular. He was among the first to realise that the fat content of milk is important and that there is more to consider than simply the amount of milk a cow produces. Branth's systematic breeding programme resulted in the fine Elkjær breeding strain, which ran off with the top awards at the cattle shows in the 1880s and 1890s. Only a few specimens of this handsome Jutland breed are still bred by museums and on private farms.