Comparison of Feed intake and milk yield of Limousin, Simmental and Hereford cows in Denmark

Presented at the International Limousin Conference, France, September 2000

by Anton Birk Jensen, Secretary of the Danish Limousin Association

In Denmark, suckler cows used to be fed according to the standards laid down for dairy cows. Based on information retrievals in the 1990s the energy standards for suckler cows were adjusted and the feed intake capacity of suckler cows was laid down. These standards applying to both suckler cows and young animals stipulate the same needs and intake capacities irrespective of beef breed even though the breeds probably differ.

It was also important to study how the different types and breeds of suckler cows manage under different environmental conditions, e.g. feed level which may be due to varying amounts of grass.

To study how the production results of different breeds depend on feed quality, an experiment was conducted, involving Herefords, Simmentals and Limousins. For this experiment a number of heifer calves were purchased at the age of 6 months, evenly distributed on Limousins, Herefords and Simmentals. These three breeds each represent a beef cattle type and it is assumed that results, applying to e.g. Herefords, also apply to other British breeds.

Broadly, the three breeds represent the following traits: hardiness, mothering instincts and production results.

During the experiment the animals were fed two types of feed - one type contained much straw, i.e. a low-energy diet and the other type contained less straw and included rapeseed cake, i.e. a high-energy diet. All animals were fed ad lib. During the drying period all animals were fed the same type of feed. To simulate a grazing situation the calves were fed the same types of feed as their mothers but from a separate feeder in order that the feed intake of each individual animal in the experiment could be measured.

Each cow and calf were housed in the same box with partly deep litter. The calf was weaned at the age of 6 months and then left the experiment. During the suckling period the cow’s milk production was measured once a month by means of machine milking. Both cow and calf were weighed every month.

The experiment showed that all cows irrespective of breed ate more of the high-energy diet than of the low-energy diet - measured in both Scandinavian feed units (SFU) and kg feed. This had the effect that the cows on the high-energy diet grew heavier during the experiment whereas the weights of the cows on the low-energy diet remained unchanged even if they were first calvers and should have been putting on weight. The measurements of degree of fatness (determination of body condition) showed that the cows on the high-energy diet had an almost unchanged degree of fatness during the whole experiment whereas the cows on the low-energy diet got thinner. These results are also shown in the table. There was generally no difference in the weights of the individual breeds, except that Herefords grew somewhat heavier in the second lactation compared to the two other breeds.

The milk yield of the cows varied a lot from one breed to another, see figure 1.

Fed the high-energy diet, the Simmental cows not surprisingly produced the highest milk yield whereas Herefords and Limousins did not differ much. The yields of the three breeds were almost identical when the cows were fed the low-energy diet. For the Limousin cows the difference between high- and low-energy diets was not significant. This means that Simmental cows produce large amounts of milk if they get ample amounts of good quality feed whereas Limousin cows do not produce more milk even if they get better feed. On the other hand, Limousin milk is more concentrated than both Hereford and Simmental milk, no matter whether they are fed high-energy or low-energy rations.

The intake of the calves differed as well, depending on whether they were fed high- or low-energy diets, see figure 2.

Both Simmental and Hereford calves ate much more of the high-energy diet than of the low-energy diet whereas the difference was smaller for Limousins. All the calves irrespective of breed ate very little of the low-energy diet which is probably due to the fact that the feed was very rough so the calves could not digest it.

The growth rates of the calves differed both as regards breed and type of feed, see figure 3.

Due to the high milk yields of the Simmental cows and their calves’ relatively large feed intake the Simmental calves also had high growth rates relative to both Herefords and Limousins. There was no difference between the performance of the Limousins on high-energy and low-energy diets because the cows yielded largely the same amount of milk irrespective of feed type.

Based on this experiment it can be concluded that Simmental cows pay for good-quality feed by ample amounts of milk and thus calves with high growth rates. On the other hand, it does not pay to give Limousin cows high-quality feed if looking exclusively at milk yield because this is nearly constant, irrespective of feed type. It is to be expected, however, that the growth rates of Limousin calves will improve considerably if they are fed an high-energy calf mix. Hereford comes in between the two other breeds as regards both milk yield and growth rate of calves.

Net weight gain and carcass quality

All cattle in Denmark are registered in the official national cattle database. All Danish slaughterhouses return data on carcass quality (EUROP scale), shape, colour etc. for each individual animal. Based on birth date, carcass data and carcass weight the net weight gain of the individual animal is calculated.

The following table shows the results of the last four years for the three beef breeds which have most purebred animals and from which most semen is used for crossing on dairy cows.

Classification and net weight gain of purebred animals

Classification and net weight gain of dairy crosses

* Belgian Blues

It is gratifying to see that in recent years the results of especially the Limousin breed have improved as regards classification and net weight gain for both purebred Limousins and dairy crosses where Limousin has been used as sire breed.

Anton Birk Jensen

Secretary

The Danish Limousin Association

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