The First International Symposium on Animal Science, November 8-10th, Belgrade

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the phenotypic expression and variability of lifetime performance traits (lifetime yields of milk, fat and 4%FCM, milk fat content, milk yield per milking day, milk yield per day of productive life and milk yield per day of life) involved 2548 Simmental cows housed on three farms in three different breeding regions: Zlatiborski Suvati (Zlatibor Pastures) dairy farm on Mt. Zlatibor, employing a loose housing system with lying and resting boxes (lige boxen), located at about 1000m a.s.l. (n=502), Dobričevo dairy farm in Ćuprija, using tie-stall housing (n=956) and individual tie-stall farms in the Kotraža region, located at 400-700m a.s.l. (n=1090). The test Simmental cows achieved the following: lifetime yields of milk, fat and 4%FCM - 14604, 554.8 and 14157 kg, respectively, milk fat content of lifetime milk yield - 3.81%, milk yield per milking day - 12.79, milk yield per day of productive life - 9.31 and milk yield per day of life - 5.46 kg. The marked variability of the traits, along with a certain percent of high-producing cows, enables further success in their selection. The effect of breeding region on all lifetime performance traits was very highly significant (P<0.001) due to different housing systems, nutrition, care, climate, herd size and a number of other effects associated with the farm management practices used.