Cattle breeding in Slovenia and meat production possibilities on grassland
1995
Osterc, J. | Fercej, J. | Cepin, S. | Cepon, M. (Ljubljana Univ. (Slovenia). Biotechnical Fac., Zootechnical Dept.)
Grasslands in Slovenia represent 65% of agricultural land. As much as 72% of agricultural land is defined as marginal. Cattle breeding presently covers 109% of the domestic market needs for milk and 82.5% for meat (1993). Basic changes in cattle breeding are: decrease of the total number of cows for 14.4% from 1985 until 1993 and decrease of farms that market milk, especially of those with 1 to 4 cows. The number of farms with 10 or more cows has been increasing. The decrease of beef production occurred due to decreased number of cows, unorganised production and disorder on the market. Possibilities for grassland-breeding systems for meat production are showing presently, as the breeding of dairy cows is decreasing. The results of experiments with suckler cows breeding on farms are given in the paper. Economical cross-breeding with bulls for meat production has started, but is still not used enough. Slovenia financially stimulates prices for fattened cattle from marginal areas. In order to achieve better efficiency, the ruminants breeding promotion systems using less productive, naturally beautiful grasslands have to be developed along with preservation of cultural landscape.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by University of Ljubljana