The earliest indication of milking and housing of cattle is a Mesopotamian basrelief
from 3,000 B.C., showing two men milking cows in a reed cattle-shed. The
habit of housing cattle (initially in a separate stone-surfaced part of the human
dwellings) was introduced to Sweden in the early Bronze Age (1100 to 500 B.C.)
(Myrdal, 1999). It has been argued, that housing of the animals in the Nordic
countries was more a result of a desire for a rational husbandry, than out of
concern for the welfare of the animals (Welinder et al., 1998). Although the
housing of cattle appears to have been increasingly frequent in the period 200 B.C.
to 200 A.D., keeping animals outdoors all-year-round remained common practise
in some parts of Sweden (e.g. in the county of Västergötland) well into the 18th
century (Welinder et al., 1998).