Beef Production Efficiency Gains through Commercial Herd Crossbreeding

Abstract

The objective of the work was to study the beef production efficiency through intensive rearing and fattening of Simmental and crossbred bull calves. The bull calves were divided into three groups of 15 animals each in order to carry out the survey. The first (control) group involved purebred Simmental bull calves. The second group consisted of young stock produced via crossbreeding Simmental cows with German Simmental beef bulls. The third group was formed from crosses of Simmental cows with Charolais bulls. The animals of the second and third groups were characterized by lower feed costs per 1 kg liveweight gain, comprising 8.5 and 8.1 EFU, respectively, while the feed utilization efficiency for the bull calves of the first group comprised 8.7 EFU. These factors affected the profitability of beef production. Thus, the level of profitability of rearing the Charolais crosses reached 20.7%, which was 6.8 and 3% higher than that in the bull calves of groups one and two, respectively. Fattening to the age of 18 months contributed to a significant increase in the carcass fat mass. Therefore, the protein-to-fat ratio comprised 1 : 084, 1 : 0.75, and 1 : 068 for the groups in ascending order of their numbers. Under intensive rearing and fattening systems, Simmental bull calves of group one gained the target beef quality up to the age of 15 months. The practice of fattening the crossbred bull calves of groups two and three up to the age of 18 months has proved that their meat gains the target protein-to-fat ratio, while the meat of bull calves of the maternal breed should be considered over-fat beef, since the fat content exceeds the standard recommendations. The intensive system of rearing and fattening the Simmental bull calves up to the age of 15 months and the Simmental crosses with the German Simmental beef breed and the Charolais breed up to the age of 18 months can ensure the production of heavy carcasses with the target quality beef.