Czech J. Anim. Sci., 2007, 52(10):325-333 | DOI: 10.17221/2342-CJAS

Comparison of calf rearing results and nursing cow performance in various beef breeds managed under the same conditions in north-western Poland

R. Pilarczyk, J. Wójcik
Department of Ruminant Science, Agriculture University of Szczecin, Poland

We compared the results of calf maternal nursing and cow performance in 5 beef breeds managed under equal conditions in the region of West Pomerania. The study involved 549 cows and 1 979 calves (1 007 heifers and 972 bulls) of the following breeds: Red Angus, Salers, Hereford, Limousin, and Simmental. The cows and their calves were managed outdoors for one year. Feeding and management systems were the same for all the breeds during the studied period. The calves remained with their mothers until 6 to 9 months of age. Under intensive feeding, we recorded very good calf rearing parameters with very good or good milk performance of the cows. The best results were achieved by the Simmental cows and calves. Both the heifers and calf-bulls of this breed exhibited significantly (P ≤ 0.01) higher weaning weights adjusted to 210 days of age as well as daily gains from birth to weaning. The weaning weights of the calves were higher from 37 to 93 kg and daily gains from 45 to 280 g. The Hereford cows and calves also achieved very good parameters. Relatively poorer in terms of production performance were Red Angus, as compared with the other breeds, and Limousin cows whose calves produced the lowest body weights and had the lowest daily gains as well.

Keywords: beef cattle; breeds; maternal nursing; body weight; gains

Published: October 31, 2007  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Pilarczyk R, Wójcik J. Comparison of calf rearing results and nursing cow performance in various beef breeds managed under the same conditions in north-western Poland. Czech J. Anim. Sci. 2007;52(10):325-333. doi: 10.17221/2342-CJAS.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Arango J.A., Cundiff L.V., Van Vleck L.D. (2002). Genetic parameters for weight, weight adjusted for body condition score, height, and body condition score in beef cows. J. Anim. Sci., 80, 3112-3122. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    2. Bennett G.I., Gregory K.E. (2001): Genetic (co)variances for calving difficulty score in composite and parental populations of beef cattle: I. Calving difficulty score, birth weight, weaning weight, and postweaning gain. J. Anim. Sci., 79, 45-51. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    3. Clutter A.C., Nielsen M.K. (1987): Effect of level of beef cow milk production on pre- and postweaning calf growth. J. Anim. Sci., 64, 1313-1322. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    4. Dįkay I., Mįrton D., Bene S., Kiss B., Zsuppįn Z., Szabó F. (2006): The age at first calving and the longevity of beef cows in Hungary. Arch. Tierz. Dummerstorf, 49, 417-425. Go to original source...
    5. Fiss C.F., Wilton J.W. (1992): Contribution of breed, cow weight, milk yield to the traits of heifers and cows in four beef breeding systems. J. Anim. Sci., 70, 3683- 3696. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    6. Goszczyński J., Witkiewicz A. (1995): The effects of Hereford calves breeding with mothers kept outside throughout the year. Zesz. Nauk. Prz. Hod., 17, 117- 122. (in Polish, with English summary).
    7. Gregory K.E., Cundiff L.V., Koch R.M. (1992): Effects of breed and retained heterosis on milk yield and 200- day weight in advanced generations of composite populations of beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 70, 2366-2372. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    8. Jakubec V., Schlote W., Ųķha J., Majzlķk I. (2003): Comparison of growth traits of eight beef cattle breeds in the Czech Republic. Arch. Tierz. Dummerstorf, 46, 143-153. Go to original source...
    9. Jenkins T.G., Ferrell C.L. (1992): Lactation characteristics of nine breeds of cattle fed various quantities of dietary energy. J. Anim. Sci., 70, 1652-1660. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Journal of Saws (1999): Dziennik Ustaw,47, 470 pp. (in Polish)
    11. Krupa E., Oravcovį M., Polįk P., Huba J., Krupovį Z. (2005): Factors affecting growth traits of beef cattle breeds raised in Slovakia. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 50, 14-21. Go to original source...
    12. Lamb M. A., Tess M.W., Robison O.W. (1993): Evaluation of mating systems involving five breeds for integrated beef production systems: IV. Accounting for variability and genetic trends. J. Anim. Sci., 71, 587-594. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    13. Litwińczuk Z., Król J. (2002): The yield and composition of beef cows milk and the results of calf rearing. Anim. Sci. Paper. Rep., 20, 199-204.
    14. Litwińczuk Z., Stanek P., Jankowski P. (2001): Ingluence of age and calving season of beef heifers on their further breeding and calf rearing results. Rocz. Nauk. Zoot., 28, 213-224. (in Polish, with English summary).
    15. Litwińczuk Z., Jankowski P., Stanek P. (2002): Body weight gains of bulls and heifers of Angus, Hereford and Limousine breeds as well as hybrids of these with Blackand- White cattle during rearing at dams. Zesz. Nauk. Prz. Hod., 62, 261-268. (in Polish, with English summary).
    16. McMorris M.R., Wilton J.W. (1986): Breeding system, cow weight and milk yield effects on various biological variables in beef production. J. Anim. Sci., 63, 1361- 1372. Go to original source...
    17. Minick J.A., Buchanan D.S., Rupert S.D. (2001): Milk production of crossbred daughters of high- and lowmilk EPD Angus and Hereford bulls. J. Anim. Sci., 79, 1386-1393. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    18. Notter D.R., Cundiff L.V. (1991): Across - breed expected progeny differences: Use of within - breed expected progeny differences to adjust breed evaluations for sire sampling and genetic trend. J. Anim. Sci., 69, 4763- 4776. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    19. Notter D.R., Mahrt G.S. (1991): An update on the relationship between actual and predicted performance of crossbred calves by divergently selected Polled Hereford sires. J. Anim. Sci., 69, 218-225.
    20. Nśñez-Dominguez R., Van Vleck L.D., Cundiff L.V. (1993): Breed comparisons for growth traits adjusted for within - breed genetic trend using expected progeny differences. J. Anim. Sci., 71, 1419-1428. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    21. Phocas F., Laloe D. (2003): Evaluation models and genetic parameters for calving difficulty in beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 81, 933-938. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    22. Piasecki W., Grodzicka M., Slósarz J. (2000): The number of beef cattle herds and their performance test results. Ann. Warsaw Agricult. Univ. - SGGW, Anim. Sci., 35, 191-196. (in Polish, with English summary)
    23. Pilarczyk R., Wójcik J. (2003): Evaluation of body weight gain of calves of 5 beef breeds during maternal nursing. Zesz. Nauk. Prz. Hod., 69, 159-165. (in Polish, with English summary)
    24. Pogorzelska J., Szarek J. (2002): A comparison of the results of cow reproduction performance and calf Reading in two Hereford herds kept under various environmental conditions. Zesz. Nauk. Prz. Hod., 62, 193-202. (in Polish, with English summary).
    25. Pųibyl J., Misztal I., Pųibylovį J., ©eba K. (2003): Multiplebreed, multiple-traits evaluation of beef cattle in the Czech Republic. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 48, 519-532.
    26. Przysucha T., Czarnecki vel Sarnacki M., Grodzki H., Zdziarski K. (2002a): The ingluence of selected factors on body wright and daily gains of Angus calves. Rocz. Nauk. Zoot., 15, 225-230. (in Polish, with English summary).
    27. Przysucha T., Grodzki H., Char³ampowicz A., Zdziarski K. (2002b): The effect of selected factors on growth rate of Limousine calves. Anim. Sci. Paper. Rep., 20, 221-228.
    28. Ųķha J., Jakubec V., Golda J., Majzlķk I. (2001): Comparison of preweaning growth traits of six beef cattle breeds in Czech Republic. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 46, 152-158. Go to original source...
    29. Roughsedge T., Thompson R., Villanueva B., Simm G. (2001): Synthesis of direct and maternal genetic components of economically important traits from beef breed-cross evaluations. J. Anim. Sci., 79, 2307- 2319. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    30. Stenzel R., Chabuz W., Jankowski P., Mroczek A. (2001): Preliminary results of reproduction and Reading of calves in blef cattle herds. Zesz. Nauk. Prz. Hod., 55, 221-227. (in Polish, with English summary).
    31. Sullivan P.G., Wilton J.W., Miller S.P., Banks L.R. (1999): Genetic trends and overlap derived from multiple- breed genetic evaluations of beef cattle for growth traits. J. Anim. Sci., 77, 2019-2027. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    32. Voųķ¹kovį J., Frelich J., Ųķha J., ©ubrt J. (2002): Relationship between parameters of beef performance in Czech Pied bulls and their crossbreds with beef breeds. Czech J. Anim. Sci., 47, 357-364.
    33. Wójcik J., Kamieniecki H., Surmacz F. (2000): Results of comparison rearing young cattle of different beefbreeds with pasture advantage. Ann. Warsaw Agricult. Univ. - SGGW, Anim. Sci., 35, 55-58. (in Polish, with English summary).

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content