THE INFLUENCE OF BREEDING METHOD ON FATTENING QUALITIES AND ECONOMIC RESULTS IN CROSSBRED CALVES (BULGARIAN BROWN CATTLE X HEREFORD)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of grazing on a pasture up to 200 kg and then to perform an economic assessment of two methods of intensive fattening by stall feeding of crossbred calves (Bulgarian Brown Cattle X Hereford) up to 500kg live weight. The study was conducted on a farm for fattening calves with male uncastrated cross¬bred calves (Bulgarian Brown Cattle X Hereford). After the milking period the calves were raised on pasture and fed with concentrated feed up to reaching 200 kg live weight. The study was conducted with two groups of 15 calves with equal live weight. The first free stall group of calves were housed in a floor area of 3 m2 per head, the second one – in a tie stall barn. The animals in the two groups were fed with equal daily portions of the same composition and nutritional value consisting of concentrated mixture and grass, lucerne hay and straw in order to gain an average daily weight of 1000 g. Daily quantities of feed were provided in equal amounts to the two groups. The weight development of the animals was controlled through individual weighing at the start of the experiments, after 90 days and at the end of the fattening period. The study data was processed by statistical variance. The male uncastrated crossbred calves (Bulgarian Brown Cattle X Hereford) raised on pasture to 200 kg and then fattened intensively up to 500 kg had a relatively high growth rate and low nutrient consumption per 1 kg of weight gain. The growth rate value per calf at individual fattening is by BGN 22.81 more and with 4.29% higher rate of return.