Indoor production of Chianina crossbred calves from herds placed in plain areas

Beef cows can provide an additional income for crop farms, in particular when crop by products are used to feed low cost mature cows crossed with Chianina bull to produce calves well appreciated by the national market. To evaluate this strategy, data concerning 15 herds of beef cows placed both in mountain and in plain areas were collected over the period 2002 and 2004. The results indicated that among the herds placed in plain areas there was a high variability in the reproductive performance. In average these herds produced from 0.55 to 0.74 calves sold/cow/year and their net income ranged from 0 to 281 %/cow/year. In mountain, the herds with grazing land, produced a mean of 0.78 calves/cow/year and net income averaged 289 %/cow/year. These results suggested that indoor production of chianina crossbred calves could be profitable, providing the use of low cost feeds and good reproductive performance. KEYWORDS: Beef cows, Chianina, Crossbred calves, Indoor herds, Plain farms.