Carcass merit and growth rate of beef cattle raised in less favoured areas in Slovenia | Klavna kakovost in prirasti goveda vzrejenega na obmocjih z omejenimi moznostmi za kmetovanje v Sloveniji
2010
Zabjek, A., Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, Ljubljana (Slovenia). | Verbic, J. | Cunder, T. | Candek Potokar, M.
Slovenia is characterized by a great diversity of climatic and geographic conditions which limit farming possibilities. Compensatory payments cover the additional cost of forage production in areas with handicaps, but not the possible lack of revenue due to lower production effectiveness. The aim of the study was to evaluate growth rate and carcass quality of beef cattle raised in less favoured (LFA) areas and to highlight the difficulty of farming in such areas with production results. The analysis showed certain differences in growth rate and carcass merit of the cattle raised in LFA; for Simmental bulls (younger than 2 years) the results show lower daily gain (4 -8 %), lower carcass weight (3 -7 %), and consequently lower conformation (4 -10 %) and fatness (5 -12 %). Compared to non-LFA areas the differences were the lowest for lowland and other LFA areas whereas they were the highest for mountain areas. Observed differences in carcass merit can be related to the degree of fattening and show that in order to achieve better results in LFA areas diets should be improved (quality of forages and cereals supplementation).
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