Test-day records of purebred Tsigai, Improved Valachian and Lacaune ewes were analysed with a general linear model in order to investigate the effects of flock-test day, lactation number, days in milk, litter size and month of lambing. In total, 121 576 (Tsigai), 247 902 (Improved Valachian) and 2 196 (Lacaune) test-day records gathered over the period [1995][1996][1997][1998][1999][2000][2001][2002][2003][2004][2005] were included in the analyses. Average daily milk yields were 0.604 ± 0.279 kg (Tsigai), 0.595 ± 0.243 kg (Improved Valachian) and 1.053 ± 0.475 kg (Lacaune). The significant (P < 0.05) or highly significant (P < 0.01) effects of flock-test day, lactation number (except for Lacaune), days in milk, litter size (except for Lacaune) and month of lambing (either fixed effects or covariates) tested by Fisher's tests were shown. The model explained about 50% of daily milk yield variability, with coefficients of determination as follows: 0.479 for Improved Valachian; 0.487 for Tsigai; 0.537 for Lacaune. Differences in estimated least-squares means were tested using multiple-range Scheffe's tests. A lower daily milk yield was found for the first lactation, single litter and lactations starting in March in comparison with daily milk yield for the second and third lactations (except for Lacaune), multiple litter and lactations starting in January and February (except for Improved Valachian). AliSchaeffer regression adopted for sheep was used for the fitting of lactation curve according to breed.

Test-day records of purebred Tsigai, Improved Valachian and Lacaune ewes were used to analyse the effect of environmental factors on milk fat and protein content. There were 121 424 and 121 158 measurements of fat and protein content for Tsigai, 247 742 and 247 606 measurements of fat and protein content for Improved Valachian and 2 194 measurements of fat and protein content for Lacaune ewes lambing between 1995 and 2005. Overall means and standard deviations for fat and protein content were 7.77 ± 1.606% and 5.94 ± 0.690% for Tsigai, 7.48 ± 1.446% and 5.82 ± 0.620% for Improved Valachian, and 6.97 ± 1.514% and 5.62 ± 0.692% for Lacaune. For fat content, analyses showed a highly significant (P < 0.01) effect of flock-test day and a highly significant (P < 0.01) or significant (P < 0.05) effect of the month of lambing, with the only exception of the month of lambing in Lacaune. The effect of litter size was highly significant (P < 0.01) or significant (P < 0.05) in Improved Valachian and Lacaune. For protein content, analyses showed a highly significant (P < 0.01) effect of flock-test day and a highly significant (P < 0.01) or significant (P < 0.05) effect of the month of lambing. The effect of litter size was highly significant (P < 0.01) in Tsigai and Improved Valachian. Covariates of days in milk which modelled the shape of lactation curves were insignificant, except for Improved Valachian fat content (Ali-Schaeffer regression adopted for sheep). The model explained about 50% of fat and protein variation in the breeds, with coefficients of determination between 0.517 and 0.587 for fat content and between 0.495 and 0.527 for protein content. Fat and protein content were almost equally correlated with milk yield in the three breeds. Lactation curves were constructed on the basis of solutions of a statistical model employed in the analyses.

The economic efficiency of several beef production systems on pasture was investigated under different marketing strategies. All calculations were carried out with the computer program ECOWEIGHT. None of the considered production systems was profitable without government subsidies for the assumed economic input values. The subsidies granted when satisfying a set of conditions served for balancing the economic loss in systems selling all surplus weaned calves outside. A profitability of 10 to 25% was reached for this marketing strategy in dependence on the production system. When integrating feedlot, only the purebred system with mating female replacement at an early age (about 15 months) and selling breeding bulls showed profitability, but at a low level (5%). All other systems produced at a loss even when government subsidies were included. A detailed analysis showed a high variability of the profit and profitability of cow-calf production systems in dependence on breeding and marketing strategies and on the level of the biological and economic input parameters. When considering biological performance, reproduction of females was shown to be the main source of economic efficiency in herds producing calves for sale. When applying feedlot, the daily gain in fattening was even more important. Beef prices seem to be the most important economic factor influencing the profitability of all systems (prices for slaughtered animals in the variant with integrated feedlot, prices for calves in the variant with selling of weaned surplus progeny). &nbsp;

Economic values of 14 production and functional traits for two Slovak dairy sheep breeds (Improved Valachian and Tsigai) were calculated. Semi-extensive production systems with one lambing per year were simulated using a bio-economic deterministic computer model. The marginal economic value of a trait was defined as the partial derivative of the profit function with respect to that trait. The relative economic value expressed the percentage proportion of standardized economic value (marginal economic value×genetic standard deviation) of a trait in the sum of the absolute values of the standardized economic values over all traits. Milk yield was of highest relative importance (26% and 32% in Improved Valachian and Tsigai) followed by productive lifetime and conception rate of ewes (16% and 15% in Improved Valachian and Tsigai, in both traits). Conception rate of female lambs and litter size had nearly the same relative economic importance in both breeds (9% to 11%). Survival rate of lambs at lambing and till weaning reached slightly lower economic values (4% to 7%). The economic importance of all remaining traits was less than 4%.

Economic weights (EW) for the Slovak dairy production system were calculated in Holstein, Slovak Simmental, and Slovak Pinzgau breeds under a direct support regime using a bio-economic approach. EW were calculated for three scenarios (A: without agricultural subsidies; B: agricultural subsidies included in revenues and C: agricultural subsidies included in feeding costs). Quota-free milk production was assumed in all scenarios. The base price of milk was corrected according to real fat, protein and somatic cell content. Under the given economic and production conditions, only the Holstein system in scenario A was economically profitable. All simulated systems were profit-making when agricultural subsidies were taken into account (B and C). No influence of subsidies on EW of traits in scenario B was found. Most of the evaluated traits (especially milk and functional traits) showed higher marginal economic weights when subsidies were considered in feeding costs (C). Regardless of the scenarios, milk components were of higher relative economic importance for Holstein cattle than for Slovak Simmental and Slovak Pinzgau cattle. The relative EW of mature weight of cows and daily gain of calves mostly declined in scenario C. A meaningful effect of direct subsidy and milk production level on the economic efficiency of Slovak Simmental and Slovak Pinzgau cattle was found. Handling direct subsidy in scenario C seems to be suitable methodology to avoid the underestimation of EW for milk and functional traits.