ILC Feature
• About 220.000 cows
without market
milk production
(suckler cows) are kept
• 35,500 females are
registered in Herd Books
• 23,500 cows
are in the system of
performance recording
History and start of breeding of
Limousin cattle
In the early 1990s, the
Limousin breed was the most
popular beef breed in artificial
insemination in the context
of utility crossing. The first
purchases of purebred animals
in 1990 came from Hungary
and established breeding in
five farms. Other Limousin
cattle are mainly from France.
Insemination by proven bulls
from France, as part of pure
breeding, has also brought a
significant improvement in calf
growth. This, together with the
excellent beef performance,
brought a considerable interest
of breeders in this breed.
Nowadays, the Limousin breed
is the fourth most popular
breed in the Czech Republic
- in commercial crossing as
well as in purebred (with 3,500
purebred Limousin cows in
performance recording). The
average number of cows in
a herd is around 30 animals.
Currently, the age of the first
calving cows moves on average
around 36 months and the
average length of the interim
period is up to 400 days.
Shows and international
promotion
Czech breeders of the Limousin
breed have been regularly
participating in exhibitions
since the first national show
that was held in 1997. Since
then, breeders have regularly
presented their breeds at
national championships in
Prague and in Brno. A special
show of the Limousin breed
is also organized in České
Budějovice in recent years.
A fantastic success for the
Czech breeders was the French
Limousin breed championship
at the Simagena fair in 2017
in Paris, France. The Czech
Republic had four animals there
(three bulls and one heifer) and
we finally had two third place
finishes. The first bronze was
gained by Mr. Josef Papáček Jr.
with his bull Borec of Kaliště,
who met with another Czech
representative Bertran of
Todně in the competition of
young bulls. Borec captured
the British judge´s attention
with his muscles so much that
he also nominated him in a
special competition for the
most muscled pelvis. Blaha
ze Sv. Kateřiny from the Loos
family farm won another
bronze in his category.
Another international success
was achieved by the Czech
breeders in June 2017 in
Germany. A young bull,
Cicero from Todně from the
LIMOUSIN Today | 41