Breeding for efficiency
Balanced, productive and efficient dual purpose cattle suitable for the production of milk, beef and by-products, that can be kept in all production systems of the world.
Fleckvieh as suckler cows
Fleckvieh suckler cows have to compete with different specialised beef breeds. But thanks to the excellent breeding performance and milk production, the high daily gains and the good carcass- and beef quality Fleckvieh can easily bear this comparison.
Fleckvieh cows have excellent mothering abilities and their good milk prodcution and persistence (flat lactation curve) guarantee high weaning weights.
Fleckvieh weaners impress through their fast growth, their frame and muscling. They can be fattened up to a weight of 600 to 700kg without becoming fat.
Breeding Performance
The breeding performance of Fleckvieh is characterized by a high productivity. A high conception rate (average 93% for heifers and cows), short intercalving periods (average 378 days) and a high percentage of twin births (about 5% of all births) guarantee a high calving percentage. Calving ease is another characteristic in favour of Fleckvieh.
Calving Ease
Milk Production
The good milk production of the Fleckvieh cow allows her calf to fully express its genetically determined growth potential. Depending on the length of the suckling period Fleckvieh calves have daily gains of 1.100 to 1.500g. Thus, even on less productive pastures, high weaning weights can be obtained.
Beef Production
Fleckvieh is known for its excellent beef production and the high growth potential of the animals. Depending on the fattening intensity, young bulls have daily gains of 1.100 to 1.300g.
Prolonged growth curves along with later carcass fat deposition allow Fleckvieh to reach high slaughter weights with exceptional dressing percentage. Results show that carcasses are harvested at 58 to 62% meat yield with a dressing percentage of 69 to 71%.
As far as beef perfocmance is concerned Fleckvieh can easily compete with specialised beef breeds as investigations carried out by Dr. Jörg Martin / Landesforschungsanstalt Dummersdorf/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Dipl.-Landwirt Ferdinand Engel showed.
Growth capacity
Here you find further information on the growth capacity of Fleckviehbulls and -heifers in testing facilities and in the field.
Beef quality
The beef produced from Fleckvieh cattle is well marbled, tender and has a good taste, irrespective of whether it was produced of bulls, heifers of steers. In order to further improve the beef quality of Fleckvieh, Bavarian Fleckvieh Genetics has its sires tested for marbling and tenderness with DNA-tests developed by the Australian company GeneSTAR. This enables farmers to select special sires to improve the beef quality traits if their herds.
Fleckvieh as dam breed for crossing programmes
Because of their excellent milk production Fleckvieh cows are often used as dam breed for crossing programmes to produce excellent weaners. Depending of the production system, different sire breeds can be used as crossing partners. The combination "dam with lots of milk" and "bull with lots of beef" brings about significabnt advantages for the feedlots.
Simbrah
In hot countries with a high solar radiation the best option is to cross Fleckvieh with Bos Indicus breeds.
The breed Simbrah is one example. Pure Simbra animals carry 5/8 Fleckvieh-(Simmentaler) genes and 3/8 Brahman-genes. This breed combines the advantages of Fleckvieh with those of Brahman-cattle like longevity, heat tolerance and resistance to diseases.
Polled sires
Bavarian Fleckvieh Genetics offers a wide variety of polled sires that are excellently suited for suckler cows.
These resultpartly come from research works done by Dr. Jörg Martin, Landesforschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Fischerei Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Institut für Tierproduktion in Dummersdorf and Ferdinand Engel, Groß Helle