CREATION OF A HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE HERD OF HOLSTEIN CATTLE WITH A MILK YIELD OF MORE THAN 12000 KG

Abstract

In recent years, dairy farming in the Krasnodar Territory has been transferred to an industrial basis. Holstein cattle are used to complete the complexes. In the “Krasnodarskoe” instructional farm of the “Kuban State Agrarian University named after I.T. Trubilin”, a Holstein herd of cattle was created in the process of long-term selection and breeding work, using servicing bulls with high genetic potential. According to the results of the 2024 valuation, each forage cow on the farm produced 12482 kg of milk, with an average fat content of 3,76%. At the first stage of creating a highly productive herd, a breeding herd of Red Steppe cows was improved by Black-and-White servicing bulls. At the second stage, absorptive crossing of Black-and-White cows with Holstein bulls and further purebred breeding was carried out. Optimal feeding and housing conditions were created for the selected replacement heifers. During the research, two groups of replacement heifers were formed. The aim of the study was to find out the effect of targeted rearing of replacement heifers on their future milk productivity. The object of the study was heifers of two Holstein lines: Reflection Sovereign and Vis Back Ideal. There were 20 animals in the control and experimental groups. Conventional zootechnical methods and techniques were used in the research. No significant differences in weight were found when rearing replacement heifers. At the first insemination, the live weight of the heifers in the experimental group was 404,5 kg, which was 7 kg or 1,73% more than in the control group. At the age of the first calving, the cows of the Reflection Sovereign line had a live weight of 605,5 kg, and their herdmates of the Vis Back Ideal line had 595,6 kg, the differences were not significant. Based on the results of the first lactation, no significant differences in milk productivity were found. 11696 kg of milk was milked from the first-calf heifers in the control group, and 11941 kg of milk from the same-aged heifers in the experimental group.