doiSerbia

Selection of bull dams in population of Simmental cattle

Pantelić V. (Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun)
Novaković Ž. (Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun)
Ostojić-Andrić D. (Institute for Animal Husbandry, Belgrade-Zemun)

Increase of production and improvement of the quality of milk, as well as of the intensity of fertility, are main prerequisites of modern cattle production. For the purpose of production of domestic Simmental bulls it is necessary to select the best cows from main herd. These heads as a rule represent approx. 1% of best cows in the controlled population primary in regard to production of milk and milk fat, but also in regard to body development, udder development and fertility traits. Fertilization of bull dams is done according to adequate system, where, for each dam, annually, bull, previously selected as sire, is determined, whose semen will be used for her insemination. Since the fastest way for selection and genetic progress is sire-son line, the most attention is directed to selection of bull sires. In Serbia, annually, only very few bulls are tested, which is insufficient for realization of greater and faster genetic improvement of production and reproduction traits of Simmental population of cattle. Therefore, centres for artificial insemination often import semen of elite bulls for planned insemination of Simmental bull dams, or borrow young bulls from abroad (waiting bulls) whose semen is used for insemination of main population. In this paper criteria for selection of cows into category of bull dams are presented as well as results relating to milk production, fertility, body development and type score of bull dams of Simmental breed in Central Serbia.

Keywords: Simmental breed, bull dams, bull sires, selection