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As one of the essential vehicles in the pursuit of the Medium Term Livestock Development Program (MTLDP) it is hereby declared that the breeding schemes for beef and dairy cattle are conducted within the following set of guidelines.

General Objective

To insure continuity of the program of developing breeder bases that will attain high quality standards of heritability, adaptability, productivity and resistance to diseases that will address both the dairy and beef characteristics pursued by the MTLDP.

Breeds to Use

The Department of Agriculture has opted to adopt a crossbreeding and upgrading program initially utilizing specifically the American Brahman, Holstein, Simmental and Sahiwal breeds and their respective crossbreeds. This does not preclude the possibility that other breeds maybe considered in the future.

American Brahman - obviously the American Brahman breed is utilized for its known adaptability to tropical conditions, hardiness, excellent foraging ability, maternal ease, longevity as well as heat and insect tolerance.

Simmental - The Simmental complements the traits of American Brahman with early sexual maturity, fertility, milking ability, rapid growth and good beef characteristics.

Simbrah - The hybrid between Simmental and American Brahman exhibits sound underlines, i.e. a clean sheath teamed with large scrotal size on the bulls and well attached udders with small teats on the cows. It has thick muscling and reasonable dispositions. Calves are known to perform well when placed directly under feedlot. They produce desirable carcass at 12-15 months of age.

Holstein Friesian - This breed is large in size by both beef and dairy standards. It is used for crossbreeding with beef breeds particularly the American Brahmans and Sahiwals to produce a dual-purpose animal. They are known to be the highest milk producers of all the dairy breeds. However, where they excel in volume, their fat and solids-not-fat (SNF) content is low compared to the other dairy breeds. Holstein Friesians are late maturing, they have good dispositions and good mothering ability.

Sahiwal - of the Zebu breeds, Sahiwals are known to be the heaviest milkers on the average. They display a more prominent and well developed udder. They are tick resistant and heat tolerant and are noted for its hardiness under unfavorable climatic conditions.

Sahiwals are relatively small, displaying the tropical characteristics of short, sleek coat with pronounced hump and dewlap on the male.

Program Implementation

The Department's cattle breeding program shall be administered by the Bureau of Animal Industry for the beef breed and the Philippines Dairy Corporation for the dairy breed components. The direct supervision, control and evaluation shall be the responsibility of the respective stock farms, nucleus farms, or anchor farms. Each of these farms shall maintain appropriate and accurate records which will be accessed to data bank in the national offices of BAI and PDC who shall also cause the regular monitoring and assessment of the breeding programs.

Site Assignments

Beef and dairy cattle breeding -The location of the various breeding schemes are as follows:

1. Busuanga cattle breeding station -

a. American Brahman - purebreed line
b. Native cattle upgrading program
c. Various crossbreeding (research) trials

2. Ubay Stock Farm -

a. Simmental x American Brahman to produce 3/8 Simmental x 5/8 American Brahman

b. Upgrading of locally raised zebu cattle

3. Masbate Stock Farm -

a. Upgrading of locally raised zebu cattle

4. Malaybalay Stock Farm -

a. At Dalwangan: Simmental x American Brahman to produce 3/8 Simmental x 5/8 American Brahman

b. At Lot 184: Holstein Freisian x Sahiwal to produce 5/8 H.F. x 3/8 Sahiwal (mixture of reds and blacks)

5. Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte Coop (anchor farm)

a. H.F. x Sahiwal F1 Crosses (reds) to produce 5/8 H.F. x 3/8 Sahiwal. Inter se breeding. To select and maintain only red color. The main criterion, however, is high milk yield.

6. Ormoc, Leyte Coop (anchor farm)

a. H.F. x Sahiwal F1 Crosses (black) to produce 5/8 H.F. x 3/8 Sahiwal. Inter se breeding. To select and maintain only black color. The main criterion, however, is high milk yield.

7. Additional sites may be determined by the BAI and PDC in the future.

Fundamental of the Breeding Program

1. Well selected breeding animals shall be properly identified individually (with ear tags and/or brands).

2. Beef animals shall be raised on improved pastures while dairy animals will be raised on loose housing system. Sustained pasture development and maintenance are essential. Silage and/or hay shall be prepared and made available to the animals whenever necessary. Minerals shall be provided.

3. Paddocks size shall be planned to accommodate a beef herd of 100 females on a weekly basis prior to being rotated.

4. Controlled or seasonal breeding shall be practiced on beef cattle. Breeding services shall start April 16 and end June 15 each year. Regular calving season is expected to occur from the last week of December to the last week of February. Where A.I. service is used, pick-up bulls will be exposed to the females following the close of the A.I. season for a period of 45 days, i.e. June 16 to July 30 each year. Heifers are bred at not less than 20 months of age.

5. Wherever applicable, controlled or seasonal breeding may be practiced on dairy cattle. Breeding services, are scheduled in October and November with calving expected in the months of June and July. The peak of milk production will then be in the months of August, September and October and the dry months in March and April when the market especially for liquid milk is expected to be low, e.g. school is in an annual break.

6. When feasible, embryo transfer (ET) will be practiced.

7. Beef calves are left with their dams up to weaning at 8-10 months old. Creep feeding may be resorted to. Dairy calves will stay with their dams for 3-4 days immediately after birth to suck the colostrum. They will then be reared on raised batteries and subjected to a calf feeding regimen that will include feeding of calf starters or milk substitutes.

8. Annual round-up of the beef herds shall be done on the first and second week of December. Such operations as inventory taking, weaning, dehorning, castration, treatment, vaccination, culling and selection shall be accomplished.

9. Periodic deworming and vaccination (whenever necessary)

10. Regular monthly dipping or spraying (if necessary). Sustained control of cattle ticks and screw worm flies shall be pursued.

11. Complete breeding and performance records shall be religiously kept. These records include occurence of heat, A.I. service (incl. semen used), calving dates, birth weights, weaning weights, reproductive efficiency, calf crop, milk production (vol. and o/o fat), etc.

12. All pedigreed Brahman heifers shall be bred to selected pedigreed bulls to maintain its purebred lines. All offspring shall be registered at the American Brahman Breeders Association (ABBA) to keep the breeding value of the animals.

13. All selected animals in the purebreed line shall be subjected to performance and progeny testing. Qualified selected animals will be registered with the American Brahman Breeders Association.

14. Rigid culling and selection prior to each breeding season shall be done in order to retain only females and bulls that pass criteria for quality breeding standards.

For strict compliance.

Adopted: 4 Nov. 1994

(SGD.) ROBERTO S. SEBASTIAN
Secretary