Resource information
Surveys were conducted to 141 farmers registered in the FERPAM at Asturias (A), Cantabria (C) and Castilla and Leon (CL) regions, with the aim to know animal production system characteristics. Racial diversity was high (57.4% of the cows are "Parda de Montaña" (PM) and the 25.2% are cross with other breeds) and only 24.1% of farms have PM pure-breed animals. The average herd size was 32.1 cows in A, 35.3 in C and 64.6 in CL. The 95% of farms are located in mountain areas. The animals are kept indoors 3.7 months/year, as average. The average age of calves weaning was 5.8 months. The 33.3% of farms sold calves as weaned (5-7 month old), 20.6% of farms finished animals until slaughter and 19.9% sold calves at the first 2 months of life. In the 83.7% of the farms the cows come from own animals. The genealogy is the most important factor to maintain reproductive cows (79.4% of farms). The 64% of farmers are thinking to increase the herd size of PM cows.
