Analyzing the distribution of slaughtered cattle breed in Edirne slaughterhouse

Abstract

It was aimed to determine the cattle breed distribution, which were slaughtered in the Edirne slaughterhouse between 2017-2021. Slaughterhouse data were used as the material for this study that accounted for a number of 49,473 slaughtered cattle. Cattle were first grouped into pure breeds and cross-breeds, and then, sub-genotypes of cross-breeds were determined. Twenty-one pure breeds and nineteen cross-breeds were determined corresponding to the identified genotypes. Furthermore, 148 sub-genotypes in crosses according to sire breed were observed, which accounted for 169 genotypes in total. It was determined that most of the slaughtered cattle were Holstein-Black (53.8%), followed by Simmental crosses (13.9%), pure Simmental (11.2%), Brown Swiss crosses (4.6%), pure Brown Swiss (4.2%) and Holstein-Black crosses (2.8%). Among the crossbreeds, the highest rate was found for the Simmental crosses (54.8%). Brown Swiss (18.0%), Holstein-Black (10.9%), Aberdeen-Angus (6.0%) and Belgium Blue (2.4%) crosses followed the Simmental crosses. Considering the results, beside of the cattle breeds mostly grown in the region, other breeds that were used for the meat production would contribute to identify the farmers’ breed preferences. Determination of the wide variety of cattle breeds or genotypes implies that farmers may have fattened various breeds without a proper breeding programme. Improper implementation of a breeding programme may cause herds to loss its uniformity and efficiency. We suggest policy makers to determine a proper breeding and/or crossbreeding programme by considering expectation and available resources of the farmers.