TECHAGRO
7.-11.4. 2024

Hall H and the surrounding areas, just as the Livestock catalogue of the ANIMAL VETEX Fair  includes Czech Pied cattle, Holstein cattle, beef cattle, sheep and goat breeds and also Western horses. Although the space for the livestock show in even years is not as large as is the custom in odd-numbered years, when the National Show of Livestock and Agricultural Equipment is held, live exhibits secure considerable interest among lay visitors as well as experts coming to Brno from the Czech Republic and abroad.

"The interest in the pied cattle is still very high," says Josef Kučera, director of the Association of Czech Pied Cattle Breeders at the stand in Hall H. "There are colleagues from Moldova sitting by the next table who are selecting heifers for their herds on our farms, colleagues from Uzbekistan are on their way here, I also experienced great interest in cooperation in Vietnam last week," says Josef Kučera, confirming the fact that Czech farmers have something to offer at home and abroad, where there is demand for pied cattle.

"We are returning to TECHAGRO after two years and our breeders have made great progress during that time. In the past control year, we ended up with an above average milk yield of 7000 kg of milk for the first time, which again confirmed our leading position in Europe. Higher milk production per cow per year than in the Czech Republic is only found in Austria and Germany, so we really belong to the top trio," says Josef Kučera. In September, the Association wants to show their own breeding facilities to the professionals during the national exhibition, newly built on a greenfield site in Radešínská Svratka.

Also the neighbouring stand of the Czech Association of Beef Cattle Breeders is surrounded by people, not only providing information to farmers and those interested in breeding these animals, but also traditionally operating a small restaurant. "Our association currently brings together 22 officially recognized breeders of beef cattle in the Czech Republic," says Secretary of the Czech Association of Beef Cattle Breeders Pavla Vydrová, adding that the interest of Czech breeders in beef cattle is continuously increasing and the Association annually receives fifty new members. "We see an increasing interest in the breeds that are less intensive in farming," says the Secretary of the Association, stating that some 190,000 animals are currently reared in the Czech Republic and the priority is to oversee particularly the breeding of beef cattle in the Czech Republic, which is the law-based commission by the Ministry of Agriculture.

There is also a novelty to be found by the visitors in the exhibition of goats and sheep. "We have the Skudde breed that we have not previously exhibited in the Czech Republic," says Vít Mareš, President of the Union of Sheep and Goat Breeders of the Czech Republic." It is a heather sheep type, which has its origins in the Baltics. There are currently about a hundred sheep of this breed in the Czech Republic, and at the moment we have a similar breeding base as in the country of origin. We quite intensively cooperate with the German breeding association," says Vít Mareš and states that 80 animals of all major breeds that are bred in the Czech Republic are to be seen in Brno. "The number of sheep and goats gradually increases in this country. Populations have increased since 2000 from 80 000 to about 220 000, which is an interesting indicator, given the current state of Czech agriculture. We hope that this trend will be maintained even from next year, when the subsidy conditions change," added the Chairman of the Association.