Herd-book
The beef cattle herdbook (FLHB) was founded in1980 by Suckler Cow Switzerland and was officially approved by the Swiss Confederation in 1986. Owing to a growing number of suckler cow farms the FLHB now has about 1'200 entries.
Breeding Aims and Breeds
The general breeding aim consists of breeding economic meat cattle fed on roughage. The following breeds are listed in the beef cattle herdbook of Suckler Cow Switzerland:
Angus (AN), Aubrac (AU), Bazadaise (BZ), Blonde d’Aquitaine (BD), Braunvieh (BV), Charolais (CH), Dexter (DR), Eringer (HR), Galloway (GA), Gelbvieh (GV), Grauvieh (AL), Hereford (HH), Highland Cattle (HI), Hinterwald (HW), Maine Anjou (MA), Limousin (LM), Luing (LG), Parthenaise (PA), Piemontese (PI), Pinzgauer (PZ), Salers (SL), Shorthorn (SH), Simmental (SM), Texas Longhorn (TL), Tux-Zillertaler (TX), Vosgienne (VS), Wagyu (WY) and Zebu (BR).
Performance Profile and Linear Description
Both meat cattle performance profile (FLEK) and linear description are designed to accommodate characteristics of suckler cow husbandry and meat cattle breeding, respectively. All the cows of herdbook farms must be characterised according to FLEK which records weight gains of calves and reproduction data of cows. In suckler cow husbandry reproduction performance of cows is just as important as weight gains of calves since selling young animals is the most important source of income. Correction factors applied to FLEK evaluations result in good comparability with which breeders can assess their animals’ performance level and determine the decisive selection values.
