Not many people have heard of the Charolais cattle, which are native to the Charolais and Levelle regions of central France and are one of the largest beef cattle breeds in Europe. Due to its fast growth rate and large amount of meat, Charolais cattle have been warmly welcomed by the international market and have been introduced to 68 countries and regions, becoming a world beef cattle breed.
Charolais cattle are well-deserved "strong men among cattle", adult bulls can weigh 1000 to 1650 kg, and cows weigh between 700 and 1200 kg. The Purpose of the French initially breeding this cattle was to use beef, so the Charolais cattle were unusually muscular, and they could be called a mobile "muscle tank".
There is also an unknown history of the origin of the Charolais cattle. Legend has it that in 878 AD, cattle farmers in some parts of France noticed a native cattle with a white body, which was the predecessor of the Charolais cattle. By the 16th and 17th centuries, there were more and more white cattle in the French market, and later they were gradually developed into beef cattle and dairy cows.
However, before the outbreak of the French Revolution, breeding cattle in different regions were limited to their respective places of origin, and there was no genetic exchange between the breeds, so naturally there was no breed improvement. By 1773, farmers and cattle breeders from Charolais had relocated to the province of Nevre with a herd of white cattle. Unexpectedly, these white cattle were actually crossed with local cattle breeds, and the offspring of the hybrids were the famous Charolais cattle.
Compared to other regular beef cattle, Charolais cattle grow significantly faster, and in just 6 months, bull calves can grow to 250 kg and cow calves can grow up to 210 kg. To the surprise of French farmers, the slaughter rate of Charolais cattle can reach 60% to 70%, and the lean meat rate of the carcass is more than 80%, which greatly caters to the boutique beef market at that time.
Not only that, but the milk production of Charolais cows is also very impressive, producing 2 tons of high-quality milk in one lactation period. Thanks to a variety of excellent properties, Charolais cattle "became a hit", and French cattle farmers deliberately preserved this breed if they were treasured.
After the end of World War II, Charolais cattle began to appear all over the world, and the demand was increasing. In the 1950s, Brazil imported 4 bulls and 6 cows, and in 1955 Argentina imported 5 bulls and 11 cows, at a time when the import scale of various countries was relatively small, basically no more than 20.
By 1964, France exported 259 bulls and 1,605 cows, and exports have been steadily increasing ever since. By 2018, France's global exports of breeding and beef products totaled 1.41 billion euros, a significant part of which was attributed to Charolais cattle.
In the 1960s, China also introduced Charolais cattle from France for breeding, and breeding cattle also shouldered the responsibility of improving native cattle. Charolais cattle can be raised with roughage, but also heat and cold resistance, can adapt to most parts of the country's environment. Today, Charolais cattle farms have been built in the northeast, northwest and south, and they are getting bigger and bigger.
It is undeniable that the Charolais cattle are indeed a good cow, but China has also encountered some new problems in the process of introduction and breeding, the most prominent of which is germplasm degradation.
After the introduction of Charolais cattle, China's production and construction corps in Xinjiang established an artificial breeding center. After more than 50 years of generation-by-generation breeding, the genetic traits of Charolais cattle have experienced serious degradation, mainly manifested by smaller body size and weight loss.
Take, for example, changes in weight. In the 1980s, newborn calves weighed around 36 kilograms, reaching a maximum of 40 kilograms; in the 1990s, the average weight of cow calves dropped to 34 kilograms, and further fell to 30 kilograms at the beginning of this century. Also after a year of growth, the average weight of domestically bred Charolais cattle is 50 to 60 kg less than that of french thoroughbred cattle.
Breeding experts have also analyzed the reasons for the degradation of the germplasm of domestic Charolais cattle, and there are three main reasons.
First, the number of breeding cattle introduced in China is not large, and inbreeding is inevitable, which is the main reason for the decline of germplasm.
If you want to improve the germplasm, you can only use French purebred cattle to rejuvenate
Second, in the early stage of introduction, the domestic breeding work lacked a reasonable breeding plan, and the selection and breeding process was seriously ignored. As we all know, healthy, disease-free and well-developed breeding cattle can produce high-quality offspring, and the selection of breeding cattle has not received due attention in the early stages.
Third, the climate, light and other ecological conditions in Xinjiang will also have an impact on the growth of Charolai cattle. Meteorological experts have compared and analyzed the meteorological data of Xinjiang from 1961 to 2001, and found that in the past 41 years, the temperature in northern Xinjiang has gradually increased, with rainfall increasing year by year and increasing significantly in winter.
Charolais cattle from a French ranch
France, the origin of charolais cattle, is a typical temperate oceanic climate, mild and rainy throughout the year, evenly distributed precipitation, and the quality of pasture is quite good. After being introduced to Xinjiang, China, the difference in climate will lead to a decrease in the feeding intake of Charolais cattle, and the quality of the pasture itself will also affect the normal development of calves.
In order to improve the genetic germplasm of domestic Charolai cattle, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps imported the frozen semen of the purebred Charolai cattle from 2015 to 2017, and the sperm motility was above 0.35. Through the simultaneous estrus technology, experts artificially bred domestic cows, and the experiment was a great success.
After the introduction of frozen semen improvement, the weight of the offspring newborn bulls reached 38.75 kg, and the newborn cows were 34.69 kg, which was 2 to 6 kg higher than the weight before the improvement, basically reaching the level of the 1980s.
However, in general, the domestic Charolai cattle are still in the initial stage of breeding, and the breeding centers are limited to Qinyang in Henan, Chaoyang in Liaoning and Xinjiang. Although The Shelolai cattle have also been introduced in Qinghai, Gansu and other places, due to climatic conditions and other factors, the current industry has not yet developed, which needs to be further observed.
In China, there are also high-quality beef cattle breeds such as Simmental cattle, which also grow very fast. However, in terms of the number of stalls, Charolais cattle are far inferior to Simmental cattle, this is because the difficult birth rate of Charolais cattle is higher, and 1-2 out of every 10 cows will have difficult births, which is not suitable as a breeding cow.
Simmental cattle
However, on the other hand, in breeding, Charolet cattle can be used as the father and Simmental cattle as the mother, and the hybridization of the two not only avoids the problem of difficult childbirth, but also enables the use of hybrid advantages to breed more high-quality commercial cattle, which further improves the lean meat rate and growth performance.
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