Simmental cows - originally from Switzerland

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Simmental breed of cows, the photo of which clearly indicates the purebredness of these animals, was created in Switzerland. It is perhaps one of the oldest in the world. There is an assumption that Simmental cows originate from animals obtained by crossing wild aurochs with peat-bog cattle. In the past they were called Bernese. From Switzerland, these animals began to be gradually exported to different countries.

Today, Simmental cows are bred for two purposes: meat and milk-meat. In Russia, the second direction is the most common.

The main color of this cattle is pale-motley or fawn, less often - red-motley. A purebred Simmental cow has a pink tongue and a nasal mirror, as well as a pharynx and eyelids. Usually individuals in the height of the withers reach one hundred and forty centimeters. Simmental cows have a strong skeleton and proportional build. They have a large head with a wide forehead. The neck is usually medium in length. The chest is deep and wide, and in bullsvery developed dewlap. The back and hind torso of a Simmental cow are wide, the sacrum is sometimes raised. The limbs are correctly set. The udder has a rounded shape with a large margin, the teats are conical or cylindrical.

Simmental cow's physique disadvantages are the incorrect placement of its hind limbs, sagging back, and poor development of the anterior udder lobes.

Several varieties have been bred from these cattle, such as the Hungarian Pied, Sadovskaya Red, Bulgarian Red, and Slovak Red Pied.

Milk productivity of a Simmental cow varies depending on the place of breeding. This cattle is the most productive in the central black earth regions, where milk yields of individuals listed in the studbook give five and a half thousand kilograms per lactation.

The record-breaking breed is Ryabushka-1413, which gave 14,584 kilograms with a fat content of 3.82 percent for its fourth breeding of milk.

Cows of the Simmental breed, belonging to such highly productive related groups with high fat milk content, as the lines of Lord, Mergel, Fasadnik, Zipper, Toreador, have become widespread.

Currently, the largest breeding herds are concentrated in the Voronezh breeding farm and in Ukraine in the Chernihiv region, as well as in Kyiv.

Calving of a Simmental cow is relatively easy. Calves whose live weight inthe moment of birth reaches forty-five kilograms, it is possible to successfully grow at various levels of feeding, and by the year they weigh three centners with a fat thickness of up to six millimeters.

The cost of growing Simmental calves for meat up to a year and a half reaches a maximum of eight and a half feed units.

Those who raised these animals know how obedient and understanding they are. Other characteristics of simmentals are their mobility, good development of muscle tissue, and resistance to disease.