Sönneböe
Sönneböe is a small farm in northern Skåne that raises Scottish Highland cattle.
The aim of the livestock farming is to promote and preserve the natural values and cultural history of the site.
Grazing of the land is a prerequisite for achieving this.
The Farm
Keeping cattle at Sönneböe goes a long way back in time. The Old Norse place name, Sønnebøe, means “Southern pasture”. The suffix -bøe is not found in historical Danish sources but is relatively common in Norwegian names of mountain farms. Ancient Norse split into a western and eastern branch during the Viking Age, so the name has probably been traded since before that time. Sönneböe was a summer farm for a settlement 5 km to the north where there was plenty of winter fodder that was harvested from wetland meadows, mader.
The oldest stone fences on the farm have been parts of two circular linked enclosures, The crane wings, with diameters of 250 and 350 meters respectively. Stone walls forming a funnel are attached to the smaller enclosure. There is evidence that Sønnebøe may have been used as a market place for draught animals, oxen. The stone walls have recently been dated, indicating that they were built at least 800 years ago and may originally date from the Roman Iron Age.
The land has been carefully restored in recent decades, something that is still going on. The old cultivated land has been cleared of spruce and unwanted beech so that the approximately 200-year-old oaks have been saved. Highland animals are necessary to maintain the land so that they do not grow again. Restoration of the oldest stone walls is also underway, a painstaking work that requires expert skills that have almost been lost today.
The place has a rich wildlife. Due to the many old deciduous trees and the abundance of dead wood, bird as well as insect species are high in number. The several kilometers of stone walls contribute to the presence of many frogs and toads. The stone walls also give shelter to many insects. A sunny late summer day thousands of solitary bees and bumblebees visiting the shamrocks can be seen on the meadows.
