sheepandgoatproductionintheczechrepublic.docVIP

Sheep and goat production in the Czech Republic Mátlová, Věra Research Institute for Animal Production 104 00 Praha 10 - Uh?íněves, Czech Republic ————————————————————————————————————————————— ABSTRACT The national programme of the protection and employment of genetic resources was elaborated in 1996 in the Research Institute for Animal Production (RIAP) for the fulfilling of ratified international agreements on the protection of animal genetic resources. Among others, three breeds of sheep and goats are included there. Within the last few years new trends in sheep husbandry resulted in the introduction of intensively bred foreign meat-type breeds. Rearing of the original breed, well adapted to the conditions of pastoral regions (higher amounts of precipitations, lower temperatures, shorter vegetation period) at the very cost of its lower performance, is possible with a subsidy only. As a successor of aboriginal rustical breeds, the Sumavka breed plays an irreplaceable role in the ecosystem of such regions. The breed regeneration started in 1954, concentrating 300 representatives in a breeding centre. Accredited in 1986, its population reached 15?000. Today the estimation is about 7?000, of which only 1?000 animals are registered and performance-tested. The white and the brown shorthaired goats are the other protected breeds. Both originated from the breeding of local domestic coloured goats with imported bucks of the Saanen and the Harz breed, respectively, since the beginning of this century. In the last 6 decades, they represent closed populations without any new import and reflect a breeding effort of our breeders. Despite rather large numbers of animals (about 35?000 and 4?000 as for the white and the brown goat, respectively) the active population producing the regular breeding stock is 2?000 and 150 registered animals only. Since the cutting off of the state subsidies for breeding programmes, the use of non-licensed bucks in the p