Cattle
Worldwide a lot of cattle breeds exists; some used broadly, some of at risk or endangered. Only a small number of major breeds are used extensively around the world. Most European cattle breeders are members of farmer cooperatives or breed societies.
Dairy
Dairy farmer cooperatives often provide their members with semen of several breeds of bulls. AI is widely used in dairy breeds. Important breeding traits for dairy cattle are production and functional traits, such as disease resistance, fertility, calving ease and longevity. |
Beef
for beef breeds natural mating is still important. |