Simmentaler Joernaal 2013.indb

Simmentaler - Feed the World
Brokkies & Kursusse | Snippets & Courses
162
Simmentaler the
“Universal“ Breed
Dr Thomas Grupp & Stephan Voigts
Simmentaler is the only “universal breed” in the world,
that can produce milk and beef on a high level . The use
of Simmentaler allows for a cost-efficient production of
milk and beef through extraordinary fitness and feed
efficiency especially as far as protein gain is concerned.
The excellent adaptability of Simmentaler purebreds and
crossbreds to different climates offers the breeder a lot of
alternatives. Also it should not be considered as bad that
Simmentaler in future will be seen as the crossbreeding
breed par excellence. Simmentaler as paternal breed
is excellent for Brahman-, Bonsmara-, Nguni- or dairy
cows. On the maternal side Simmentaler will be the base
for successful beef production, since the best genetics is
of no use, if there is not enough milk on the mother side.
Why not put a Simmentaler on any Indicus or Synthetic
breed to get high quality carcasses? The possibilities of
Simmentaler are boundless – let Simmentaler help you
to increase the profit margin! For Simmentaler breeders
the most important goal is to improve the productivity
of the Simmentaler breed in all different production
systems. The products sold by farms (bulls, weaners,
slaughter stock, breeding animals , milk and slaughter
cows) using Simmentaler genetics have to guarantee
an adequate income for the farmers. Consequently
Simmentaler breeders also sets great value on beef
traits. Last but not least, it gets more and more important
that a cattle breed has a harmonic body without any
extremes that gives the consumer confidence in the
products produced with the breed.
This is a summary compiled by Dr Thomas Grupp and
Stephan Voigts of an article published in the magazine
“Fleckvieh World” by Bavarian-Genetics.
“We breed for a medium sized, excellent muscled,
robust and efficient dual purpose cow for the
production of beef and milk, suitable for all production
systems in the world”. It is difficult to measure a
breeding aim in figures other than EBV’s. We see these
figures as basic data for beef and milk production with
Simmentaler, which have to be adjusted according
to the farm needs. Live weight of cow 400 - 650 kg,
milk production of 4000 - 6500 kg of milk (10 times live
weight) with weaning weight of 215 - 320 kg. Age of
first calving 26 - 32 months of age and a AB grade
carcass weighing above 230 kg.
Type and harmony
Simmentaler cows might show little shortcomings in their
type traits at the age of one, before the first lactation and
as old cows. We are looking for Simmentaler yearlings with
a skeleton that allows a clear prediction for the future use
of the cow - the pelvis has to be large enough, the neck
should have enough muscling. The skeleton of a cow is
very important and to sum up: “If the skeleton is sound, you
can hang up every production“. For dual purpose breeds,
different traits are more important than for pure beef or dairy
breeds respectively. Very often breeding aims are complex
and scientific, for dual purpose cattle it could be based
on three main types which are described as “POWER”
(measured as general fitness - productive lifetime, fertility,
calving ease, stillbirth rate, daily gain and quality carcass),
“ALLROUND” and “MILK” (measured in the dairy industry
but also in terms of higher weaning gains). In between
there are different subtypes depending on the type of the
cow/heifer the corresponding type of bull is selected for
from these categories. Whereas purebreeding favours
the “Allround-type” animals, the optimum for a crossbred
animal might be completely different.
Functionality
We don’t breed cattle for its own sake, we need to
produce beef, beef and by- products to earn money
on the farm. The beef production of Simmentaler
improved a lot during the last decades. However, at the
same time Simmentaler lost milk production type traits,
mainly udders and feminity. It is very important, that the
improvement of the production traits does not limit the
animals in their functionality (locomotion, feed intake,
udder size, extreme convex muscling). Experiences from
traditional systems like mountain pastures (adaptability,
robustness, type) and extensive farming have to be
incorporated into breeding decisions because they can
serve as early indicators of undesirable developments
in breeding work. In our opinion Simmentaler should be
able to cover the whole range of production systems
(dairy ranching – zero grazing/TMR systems) without
losing the functionality and type traits.
Health and Fertility
The most important requirements for any cattle are health
and fertility. Only healthy cows with good fertility are suitable
for the production of healthy food. A natural robustness and
hardiness are prerequisites for the adaption of the animals to
climates with suboptimal conditions. Breeders have to keep
an eye on health traits, because this is the only way to detect
and eliminate weak points on cow- or bull-lines. Because of
the rising demand for Simmentaler cattle, the calving interval
has to drop to 365 days. Last but not least this also would
give the breeder more possibilities for selection on his farm.
Those strong Simmentaler cows do a lot of things just a little
bit better. And all those little changes together are responsible
for a higher profit: higher price for bull calves, less expenses
for the veterinarian, a higher price for slaughter cows, a
shorter calving interval and a better fertility, and last but not
least, more valuable calves per year and on top of all, a
higher milk production. But at last for me the most important
thing is to make profit says Dr Thomas Grupp.