Procurement of 300 breeding cattle and advisory programme
- Sectors: Integrated livestock development, Breeding and genetic improvement
- Duration: 09/1992 – 12/1993
- Volume: 0.3 Mill. Euro
- Persons/ Months: 5
- Client: Austrian Development Cooperation, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Vienna
- Partner: National Centre of Animal Breeding and Selection (Centrul National de Reproductie si Selectie a Animalelor)
In the course of the Austrian cooperation with Eastern Europe, private farms exclusively belonging to smallholders were provided with 300 cattle of the species Simmenthal (Fleckvieh), Brown Swiss (Braunvieh), and Pinzgauer. Basic knowledge for future breeding programmes adapted to the new economic conditions of smallholder farming was transferred to the Romanian cattle breeders.
In addition to the delivery and distribution of cattle and the provision of advisory services, contacts between the newly formed breeding organisations and Austrian partners were established. Therefore, Rumanian employees were trained and supplied with information material. 15 of them had the possibility to make an educational trip to Austria.
The project was received with enthusiasm by the target group (small private breeding farms); the animals were distributed to all districts of Romania. Due to specific breeding conditions, the scabby cattle Simmenthal (Fleckvieh) were concentrated in the districts Arad and Timisvar, and the Brown Swiss (Braunvieh) in the region Mara Mures. Both regions are traditional breeding areas for these races. All three species were supplied with urgently needed new breeding material.
For the first time, a whole generation of smallholder farmers was integrated in the country-s breeding policy that until then had been exclusively determined by a few large state farms. The new breeding material constituted an example, demonstrating the possibilities of modern animal breeding to a multitude of villages and even to entire regions. As we have learned from discussions with farmers, they took the opportunity to dedicate themselves fully to cattle breeding. The farms that obtained breeding material from Austria could significantly improve breeding management quality, facilitated by local consulting, animal monitoring and milk control.
Ten years after the project-s completion, descendents of these Austrian breeding cattle can be found all over Rumania.