A scientific reconstruction of a cow skeleton from the XI–XIII centuries depicts the typical size of the cattle of the time. The height at the withers went up to 100 cm, while the height of a modern cow is 135–140 cm. The small size and low productivity of this animal were the direct results of unfavourable conditions and a lack of feed (in winter it was fed almost exclusively with straw). The reconstruction of the medieval cow skeleton was made in 1983 by a member of the Leningrad Zoological Museum, PhD Vadzim Harut.