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Research Article

Productivity of Simmental and Montbéliarde cows culled in 2005–2016 taking into account the reasons for their culling

Paweł Żółkiewski, Piotr Stanek, Ewa Januś 

University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Institute of Animal Breeding and Biodiversity Conservation, Akademicka 13, 20-950 Lublin, Poland

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 17(1), 2018, 15‒22
2. DOI: 10.21005/asp.2018.17.1.03

Abstract. The aim of the study was to compare selected characteristics of the lifetime productivity and longevity of Simmental (SIM) and Montbéliarde (MO) cows, taking into account the reasons for their culling. The analysis included a total of 812 cows (635 SIM and 177 MO) from the Parzniew evaluation region, culled in 2005–2016 after having completed at least one 305-day lactation. The study showed that milk production in Simmental cows began slightly later than in the Montbéliarde breed (886 vs. 878 days). At the same time, they were used longer and lived longer, but were inferior to MO cows in terms of yield of milk and its constituents, per lactation and for their entire productive life. Milk from SIM cows was also found to have higher content of fat and dry matter. Analysis of the reasons for culling showed that Simmental cows were most often culled due to sterility and reproductive disease (35%), while in Montbéliarde cows the main causes were poor yield and udder disease (30.5%) and random causes and other causes (30.5%). In both breeds, the least common cause of culling was old age (6.2% in SIM and 2.8% in MO).

Keywords: culling, longevity, lifetime yield, cattle breed, milk composition