Comité international pour le contrôle des performances en élevage International committee for animal recording Internationales komitee für leistungsprüfungen in der tierproduction The situation of beef performance recording Results 1998 September 2000 Preface In 1994 the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) adopted recommendations for beef performance recording. A specialist Beef Performance Working Group was asked to carry out surveys periodically to give an idea of the level of activity and the systems of beef performance recording among the member organisations, and of the degree of acceptance of its recommendations. The first survey was published in November 1997 and gave an overview of world-wide beef recording activities. The present survey was designed in 1999 and included an updated questionnaire asking for more detailed information, especially with regard to performance averages and breed differences. Overall, at present, it is clear that the responses to the new parts of the questionnaire were relatively poor. Some of the organisations approached argued that performance averages are misleading because they mainly reflect production conditions rather than the genetic merit of the breed and we must agree, to a certain extent, with this point. For this reason and with the aim not to discriminate against any breed that may be reared in poorer production conditions, this report includes only information about the extent of beef recording in different recording schemes. However, compared with the previous survey we have paid more attention to different recording activities performed by each of the cattle breeds. The questionnaire was subdivided into six main parts, of which each one dealt with one of the six different types of beef performance recording schemes approved by ICAR (the appropriate ICAR recommendation is shown in the annex): • in test stations; • in suckler herds from birth to weaning; • in abattoirs; • at official sales; • in finishing herds from weaning. As well as member organisations of ICAR we also tried to include as many other countries as possible in order to show a representative picture. As the reader can certainly conclude from the figures, some of the important beef breeding regions are unfortunately still missing. One of the reasons for this might have been problems with data ownership, as in many of the well developed beef breeding countries performance data rests with private breed societies. For this reason the next survey which will be carried out in 2002 will be shortened and facilitated. Besides this we will try to involve world breed societies which might have better access to their member organisations. By doing this we hope to get more and better responses. The present report has been a joint service of the ICAR Beef Performance Working Group. I take the opportunity and thank all of my colleagues for their valuable help and support. The data collection and evaluation was executed by Laurent Journaux, Institut de l’Élévage, France. For taking over this laborious work I would like to thank Mr. Journaux in particular. Munich, September 2000 Hans J. Schild Chairman of the ICAR Beef Performance Working Group THE SITUATION OF BEEF PERFORMANCE RECORDING, RESULTS 1998 ICAR, SEPTEMBER 2000 2 Country who received the questionnaire Austria France The Netherlands Argentina Finland New Zealand Australia Greece Portugal Belgium Hungary Poland Belgium Croatia Rumania Belgium Italy Korea Bulgaria Israel Sweden Canada India Slovenia Switzerland Ireland Slovak Republic Cyprus Japan Tunisia Czech Republic Luxembourg UK Germany Lithuania USA Denmark Latvia South Africa Spain Mexico Zimbabwe Estonia Norway Egypt Countries who answered to the questionnaire Countries without beef performance recording system Cyprus Mexico Netherlands Estonia Argentina (Milk recording Organisation) Tunisia Countries with beef performance recording Country In suckler In suckler In Official In In finishing herds herds individual sale abbattoirs herds Method 'A' Method 'B' test station Austria (AUS) Yes Yes Yes Australia No statistics available Belgium (BEL) Yes Yes Denmark (DEN) Yes Yes Yes Yes Finland (FIN) Yes France (FRA) Yes Yes Yes Yes Germany (DEU) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Hungary (HUN) Yes Yes Ireland (IRL) Yes Yes Yes Yes Italy (ITA) Yes Yes Latvia (LAT) Yes Poland (POL) Yes Switzerland (CHE) Yes Yes Yes South Africa (ZAF) Yes Yes Yes United Kingdom (UK) Yes Yes United States (USA) Yes THE SITUATION OF BEEF PERFORMANCE RECORDING, RESULTS 1998 ICAR, SEPTEMBER 2000 3 Number of records in each type of performance recording system In individual test station Total per country Number of Country Station Animals Scoring AUS 7 224 181 BEL 2 324 270 CHE 5 190 DEU 1378 1086 FRA 29 1364 2104 HUN 1 39 IRL 8 220 220 ITA 11 1383 733 ZAF 10 1428 Details per country and per breed Number of country Breed Station Animals Scoring AUS Brown Swiss (dual purpose - old type) 2 25 Limousin 1 18 Pinzgauer 1 10 10 Simmental (dual purpose) 3 171 171 BEL Belgian White Blue 2 324 270 CHE Brown Swiss 1 90 Brown Swiss (dual purpose - old type) 1 5 Red Cattle 1 30 Red Holstein 1 50 Simmental (dual purpose) 1 15 DEU 9. No breed distinction 2 10 10 Aberdeen Angus 1 1 1 Angler 1 21 20 Brown Swiss 1 49 49 Charolais 1 14 14 German Angus 1 15 Holstein 6 718 494 Limousin 1 40 40 Piemontese 1 5 5 Red Holstein 2 103 56 Simmental (beef) 1 4 4 Simmental (dual purpose) 4 369 364 Vorderwälder 1 29 29 THE SITUATION OF BEEF PERFORMANCE RECORDING, RESULTS 1998 ICAR, SEPTEMBER 2000 4 Number of country Breed Station Animals Scoring FRA Abondance 1 35 Aubrac 1 100 100 Bazadais 1 9 9 Blonde d'Aquitaine 2 200 200 Charolais 8 590 590 Gascon 1 77 77 Inra 95 1 18 18 Limousin 6 930 930 Maine-Anjou 1 60 60 Montbeliard 2 440 Normande 2 470 Parthenaise 1 45 45 Salers 1 75 75 Tarantaise 1 35 HUN Simmental (dual purpose) 1 39 IRL Aberdeen Angus 1 20 20 Belgian White Blue 1 1 1 Blonde d'Aquitaine 1 12 12 Charolais 1 45 45 Hereford 1 18 18 Limousin 1 83 83 Shorthorn (beef) 1 4 4 Simmental (beef) 1 37 37 ITA Italian Brown 1 139 96 Chianina 1 40 40 Marchigiana 1 54 54 Romagnola 1 37 37 Podolica 1 35 35 Maremmana 1 25 25 Piemontese 1 154 101 Limousine 1 42 42 Grigio Alpina 1 26 26 Rendena 1 59 33 Valdostana Pezzata Rossa 1 38 38 Valdostana Pezzata Nera + Castana 1 34 34 Pezzata Rossa Italiana 1 197 172 Italian Friesian 1 503 THE SITUATION OF BEEF PERFORMANCE RECORDING, RESULTS 1998 ICAR, SEPTEMBER 2000 5 Number of country Breed Station Animals Scoring ZAF Aberdeen Angus 10 42 Afrikaner 10 47 Beefmaster Bonsmara 10 706 Brahman 10 33 Brangus 10 28 Brown Swiss Charolais 10 33 Dexter-Kerry 1 Drakensberger 10 13 Gelbvieh (beef) 10 17 Hereford 10 19 Limousin 10 89 Nguni 2 Pinzgauer 10 17 Red Poll 10 10 Romagnola 1 Sanganer Santa Gertrudis 10 68 Shorthorn (beef) Simbra 10 54 Simmental (beef) 10 192 South Devon 10 12 Sussex 10 40 Tuli 4 THE SITUATION OF BEEF PERFORMANCE RECORDING, RESULTS 1998 ICAR, SEPTEMBER 2000 6 In suckler herds Method 'A' Total per country Number of Country Herds Animals Scoring AUS 261 BEL 3319 22726 13965 CHE 534 5510 DEU 52262 24472 FIN 177 3253 FRA 13413 489752 314000 IRL 366 2602 4 877 ITA 6610 104384 POL 271 14828 14800 Details per country and per breed Number of country Breed Herds Animals Scoring AUS Angus (Aberdeen and German Angus) 30 charolaisXAngus 1 SimmentalXLimousin 2 PinzgauerXBlonde d'Aquitaine 2 Belgian White Blue 1 Blonde d'Aquitaine 9 Charolais 137 Galloway 20 Gelbvieh (beef) 1 Limousin 24 Simmental (beef) 34 BEL Belgian White Blue 3319 22726 13965 CHE Crossbreeds 308 3702 Aberdeen Angus 124 1235 Aubrac 2 14 Blonde d'Aquitaine 3 10 Brown Swiss (dual purpose - old type) 4 5 Charolais 12 115 Galloway 2 7 Hereford 2 14 Highland Cattle 1 7 Limousin 52 287 Piemontese 3 7 Simmental (beef) 21 107 DEU German Angus 12541 5366 Charolais 21425 9848 Hereford 3352 2043 Limousin 8597 4404 Simmental (beef) 6347 2811 THE SITUATION OF BEEF PERFORMANCE RECORDING, RESULTS 1998 ICAR, SEPTEMBER 2000 7 Number of country Breed Herds Animals Scoring FIN Aberdeen Angus 33 648 0 Charolais 36 753 0 Hereford 64 1229 0 Highland Cattle 7 21 0 Limousin 21 322 0 Polled Hereford Look Hereford Simmental (beef) 16 280 0 FRA Parthenaise 227 7181 6000 Aubrac 694 32089 7300 Bazadais 81 996 100 Belgian White Blue 165 1952 0 Blonde d'Aquitaine 2728 68758 30600 Charolais 4770 204323 157000 Gascon 346 10238 2000 Hereford 150 Limousin 3039 122513 83600 Maine-Anjou 457 10519 6200 Salers 906 31033 21300 IRL Aberdeen Angus 44 197 Charolais 106 940 2144 Hereford 41 162 Limousin 126 1001 2733 Simmental (beef) 49 302 ITA Charolaise 110 4039 Chianina 733 18415 Limousine 165 7302 Marchigiana 3612 27849 Maremmana 47 3269 Pezzata Rossa Italiana 360 3146 Podolica 390 14853 Romagnola 805 9255 Sarda 337 14063 Sarda Modicana 51 2193 POL CROSSBRED WITH LMS 85 4314 4314 CROSSBRED WITH HEF 15 407 407 CROSSBRED WITH CHL 25 1082 1082 CROSSBRED WITH AAG 6 129 125 CROSSBRED WITH SIM 4 1108 1108 CROSSBRED WITH PMT 7 226 226 CROSSBRED WITH BAD 3 159 159 CROSSBRED WITH WEB 1 87 87 CROSSBRED WITH OTHERS 4 89 89 Aberdeen Angus 9 455 435 Charolais 25 1427 1427 Hereford 30 1909 1909 Limousin 43 2362 2362 Piemontese 5 140 140 Salers 5 644 640 Simmental (beef) 4 290 290 THE SITUATION OF BEEF PERFORMANCE RECORDING, RESULTS 1998 ICAR, SEPTEMBER 2000 8 In suckler herds Method ‘B’ Total per country Number of Country Herds Animals HUN 176 18526 LAT 41 728 UK 1170 19047 ZAF 1436 156834 DEN (estimation) 3200 25000 USA (estimation) 380000 Details per country and per breed Number of country Breed Herds Animals HUN Aberdeen