Luxi cattle

(1) Origin and distribution: Luxi cattle is one of the four major breeds of Central Plains yellow cattle in China. Mainly produced in Heze in the southwest of Shandong Province. The two areas of Jining, namely, the Yellow River in the north, the old route of the Yellow River in the south and the triangle on both sides of the canal in the east. Among them, the central producing areas are Echeng, Necheng, Heze, Juye, Liangshan and Jiaxiang, Jinxiang, Jining and other counties in Heze area. It is distributed in the south of Liaocheng area and the southwest of Tai'an area, but the quality is slightly poor. At present, there are about 400000 Luxi cattle in the producing area.

(2) main production performance: 1. Service performance Luxi cattle are gentle and easy to manage, and it is easy to give full play to the maximum working ability. the bulls and eunuchs with medium individual and medium fat are ploughed 5 mu of sandy land and 3 mu of cows per day. 2. Meat production performance is good. Thin skin and fine bones, high meat yield, fine muscle fiber, uniform fat distribution, obvious marble pattern, exported to Hong Kong and other countries, very popular. According to the experiment, under the condition of mainly green grass, a small amount of wheat straw and daily feeding of mixed shoot material 2kg (soybean cake 40%, wheat bran 60%), 1-year-old and 5-year-old cattle were fattened with an average daily gain of 610g and a feed consumption of 6.3g per kilogram (oat unit). The general slaughtering rate is 53%-55%, and the net meat percentage is about 47%.

(3) Reproductive performance: the reproductive ability is strong. Some cows can be conceived at the age of 8 months. The average estrus cycle is 22 (16 ~ 35) days, the estrous duration is 2 ~ 3 days, and the conception rate is higher at 21 ~ 30 hours after the onset of estrus. The first mating age of most cows is 1.5 to 2 years old, and the maximum is 15 calves. The gestation period is 285 (270,310) days. The average first postpartum oestrus is 35 (22-79) days, the sexual maturity of bulls is a little later than that of cows, mature sperm can be produced at about one year old, mating begins at the age of 2-2.5 years, and the useful life is 5-7 years. If used properly, bulls still have better mating ability after 10 years of age. The most exuberant age of sexual function is before 5 years old, the ejaculation volume is generally 5~10ml, and the freezing resistance of sperm varies greatly with individual.

(4) main physical characteristics: 1. Adaptive Luxi cattle is a good local breed bred under the condition of meticulous management and house feeding in the producing area. Although it shows the characteristics of tolerance to rough feeding (feeding wheat straw alone can maintain life), it is generally said that it does not require meticulous feeding and management conditions, so the local people's feeding and management of Luxi cattle is extremely fine, the forage is required to be crushed and ground, and more "flowers" are fed in winter. Even the habit of feeding cattle with bean foam and sorghum porridge. There is no grazing habit in the producing areas, especially because of its long limbs and soft hooves, which is not suitable for mountain labor and grazing. The ability to adapt to high temperature is strong, but to low temperature is poor. Generally, under the high temperature of 30-35 ℃, it can be used normally, but the Mongolian cattle or introduced cattle under the same conditions will gasp and heartbeat faster. Luxi cattle are required to have a strict warm barn under the condition of 10 ℃ in winter, otherwise dead cattle are easy to occur in severe winter, while Mongolian cattle can generally survive the winter safely in the west of Shandong Province. Therefore, the local government has to issue a notice of "safe overwintering in the afternoon" every autumn, indicating that Luxi cattle are weak in cold resistance. 2. Disease resistance according to the perennial observation of Luxi cattle, its disease resistance is strong. In addition, Luxi cattle has a strong ability to resist scorch disease.

(5) Evaluation and prospect: Luxi cattle is a famous dual-purpose meat breed in China, which is famous for its strong body, consistent appearance, obvious breed characteristics and good meat quality, but it still has some defects, such as late body maturity, low daily gain, lack of fullness of hindquarters and so on. In the future, the selection and breeding of this variety should be strengthened, and the current use of both service and meat should be gradually turned into meat or milk, so as to meet the needs of domestic and foreign markets.