Rearing of Meat Breed Calves in the System Without Commercial Milk Production

Abstract

In this article the results of rearing purebred meat breeds of cattle in the system without commercial milk production on a private farm situated at the foot of the mountains in South Bohemia are shown. The herd of dams consisted of 149 pcs. of the breed Charolaise (CH), Meat Simmental (MS), Blonde d´Aquitaine (BA), Limousine (LI) and Belgian Blue (BM). The average age at first calving was the lowest in the breed MS (941 days) and the highest in the breed CH (1087 days). The average length of the Between-calving interval of the herd was 442.6 days. The highest birth weight was achieved by the calves of the breed BA (51.2 kg) and the lowest by the breed MS (42.4 kg at P≤0.001). At the age of 120 and 210 days the highest live weight was proved in the breed CH (193.8 kg resp. 316.5 kg). The calves of the breed ET showed a significantly higher live weight only in the age of 120 days (difference of 12.8 kg at P≤0.01). The influence of bulls on the growth parameters of calves was proved within the breed CH in live weight at the age of 210 days.