Buying of the young sires as done by Bayern Genetik in Bavaria:
Breeding bull selection – types of cows that result
Bavarian Fleckvieh Genetics/Bayern Genetik purchases genomically tested breeding bulls each year at local livestock auctions or directly out of the farmer`s barns. They select their bulls from a population of 750.000 Fleckvieh herdbook cows in Bavaria. These are Fleckvieh animals – originally Simmental but Fleckvieh formed it`s own breed back in 1830.
Many of these young breeding bull sires (candidates) come out of so called planned matings, which means especially selected siredams were mated to the best Fleckvieh sires available. The expected results in their progeny which becomes evident over time is listed in a ranking.
The other bulls come out of regular but promising matings with herdbook cows. They also purchase breeding sires from other countries like Austria, the Czech Republic, Australia and South Africa. This secures a large gene pool with bloodlines being maintained and a very low inbreeding coefficient. Also cow families and bloodlines are important for decision making. Bayern Genetik (www.fleckvieh.de) wants to offer genetics that proves its worth in the long term in all different kinds of production systems and climates.
When buying bulls, they focus on production and fitness traits. However, great importance is also attached to the type traits of a bull. Bavarian Fleckvieh Genetics/Bayern Genetik believes in dual purpose and therefore it is crucial how a bull looks.
At the end of the day, the target is to have more proven sires to pick form that match the needs of the particular farming operation.