Technical Conference

Czech Republic 2023

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Day two of the conference involved three cattle visits. The first was to the farm of Agrochyt at Mohelno where Vláďa Chytka and his family welcomed the tour. Vlada was a participant in the first Charolais International Youth program in Canada back in 2018. This farm started breeding beef cattle in 2003 with herds of Charolais, Limousin and Simmental. Prior to this the farm was involved in breeding pigs. The family run 80 cows on 105 hectares with 65 hectares growing fodder such as maize and Lucerne silage as well as wheat and barley. The family has had great success with a young Charolais bull winning a major French show before being sold into France. This bull Agrochyt Demon was a homozygous poll sire. Further to this a young Simmental sire was sold to influential Simmental herd, Kilbride Farm in Northern Ireland.

The poll gene is very important in their breeding selection as their organic status does not allow dehorning. The females on display had good milking ability which is selected for and were larger framed females. The type of cattle on this farm were very similar to our Australian type. The replacement heifer pen had strong consistency in type across all three breeds and the heifers exhibited great depth of body. Only one young Charolais sire was on display with other bulls at a test station.

The farm averages 400mm of rain a year and the females spend considerable time in sheds. Eighty percent of the herd calves between October to January. A hot wire strung across the shed pens provide a creep area for the calves and it works very well. Each pen in the shed was well bedded and the cattle had access to an outside pen where the feed lane runs. In the distance, one of the two Czech nuclear power stations was on the horizon.

Lunch was at a village pub where a chef cooked on a wood fired Barbeque and put on quite the show constructing burgers and plates in front of the group.

The second visit for the day was to the Redu, spol. sr.o. herd where the 1158 hectare property was more corporate owned. On arrival we were shown a video outlining the enterprise which was very informative. After hearing from speakers two of the herd sires were paraded and their muscularity was very impressive.

Here the sheds and bull handling facility were first class and very impressive with ten employees on farm. In addition to the breeding herd there was an associated bull test station and Biogas plant.

Market crops are gown including wheat, winter barley, rapeseed, sunflower and corn for grain and silage. Lucerne is also gown for animal nutrient and the operation of the 550kw biogas plant. Rotational grazing is used and animal health and welfare is paramount to the operation

The Charolais breeding herd of 200 Charolais cows is bred with a emphasis on the Myostatin gene (F94L) and the Q204X gene combinations. Combining these genes correctly can provide a significant increase in meat yield. Other selection criteria include structure, meat yield and calving ease. Eighty percent of genetics used are from France and 20% from Czech bloodlines. At their on-farm auction in 2022 a French imported sire, “Origan” was sold back to France. Several of his calves were on display in the pens. Future development will see emphasis on poll genes in the herd. The display here was very comprehensive with pens of breeding females with calves by sire groups. The herd on display was very well muscled and the consistency of the sires used was evident.

The third visit for the day was to the bull testing station associated with Redu. The station tests four groups of bulls a year. Bulls are fed undercover in pens to achieve a standard weight gain. The aim of the test station is to provide standard conditions for all animals to evaluate genetic excellence. Standards are set by the Czech Cattle Breeders Association and must be adhered to.

Of the 2000 animals tested annually, half are tested on farm and half in testing stations. Bulls are weighed every 14 days and this is conducted by an employee of the cattle breeder’s organization. For our inspection each bull had a pen card showing pedigree, genomic test results and performance date which was quite extensive. The bulls on test would also be structurally evaluated and semen tested prior to sale.