Comparison of Some Herd Life and Reproductive Parameters of Anatolian Black and Culture Breed Cows

In this study, it was aimed to evaluate some breeding parameters and herd life of some cattle breeds raised at the research institute conditions. This study was carried out on Holstein Friesian (HF, n=74), Brown-Swiss (BS, n=75), Simmental (SIM, n=34), and Anatolian Black (AB, n=41) cattle born between 2005-2021 in Lalahan Internationa Center for Livestock Research and Training in Ankara, Turkiye. The characteristics of these animals such as herd participation, calving rate, calving age, lifespan, breeding time and herd life were investigated. During this period, 195 of the 224 animals that left the herd in the farm reached breeding age, and 143 of these animals gave birth. First calving ages of HF, BS, SIM and AB cows were 948 days, 1104 days, 988 days and 1169 days, respectively. The average number of calves per cow in the farm was determined as 2.29, 2.31, 3.04 and 4.50, respectively (P=0.007). Of the 224 animals, 38.9% were voluntary and 61.9% were compulsorily left from the herd. Herd life was determined as 1419 days, 1641 days, 1690 days and 2241 days (P=0.001), while productive life was determined as 788 days, 957 days, 1121 days and 2057 days (P=0.001) in HF, BS, SIM and AB cows respectively. Productive life was found to be 947 days in cultured cows calving before 912 days (30 months) and 2197 days in Anatolian Black. The negative correlation between age at first calving and productive life in culture breeds demonstrates the importance of giving birth to animals before 912 days of age. It is thought that the higher values of locally adapted AB cattle breed in terms of herd life and reproduction data are because of less reproductive and metabolic problems due to their low yield characteristics.