Brakmas, a New Beef Breed for Integrated Cattle under Oil Palm Production

News source: MARDI, Malaysia.
See PDF file for e-mail address., 2002-11-01

Cattle Production under Oil Palm

Malaysia, is a country with more than three million hectares of oil palm plantations. The country is promoting the integrated rearing of beef cattle in these plantation areas. This system of production has been found to be economically viable, because the large amount of vegetation found under the oil palms is a good source of feed for beef cattle. Plantations are capable of maintaining large herds of animals through the judicious matching of feed resources and animal requirements

New Breed of Brahman Crossed with Local Cattle

To further enhance the productivity of this innovative system, a new beef breed, Brakmas, has been developed. This is a crossbred resulting from many generations of continuous selection and breeding of Brahman bulls from Texas, USA and the local indigenous Kedah-Kelantan beef cattle.

Suited to Integrated Cattle/Oil Palm Production

It fits well into an integrated cattle/oil palm production system. This new beef breed is medium in size, white to grayish in color, and has high resistance to infestations by local internal and external parasites. Generally, the productivity of the Brakmas is 30 _ 35% better than that of the local Kedah-Kelantan cattle.

Productive under Local Conditions

The Brakmas has an average birth weight of 20.2 kg, a weaning weight of 97.3 kg, a yearling weight of 119.0 kg, and a mature weight of about 316.0 kg. Its performance in an oil palm plantation is good, with an average daily weight gain of 0.5 kg, a body weight of 180 kg at one year of age, and a conception rate of 60 - 75%. This unique symbiosis of a tree crop, forage and beef cattle have proved to be a winning formula for turning beef production in Malaysia into an eco-friendly and viable production system.

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