Directions to improvement selection-technological features of cattle Ayrshire breed

Abstract

The average annual dairy productivity of the North Caucasian population of Ayrshire cattle breed (n = 550 cows) is 6.0-6.2 thousand kilograms of milk, the age of cows is between 3 and 8 years, and the calving interval is usually not more than 400 days. A linear assessment of the exterior of the cows showed that the benchmarks for major groups of characteristics (body volume, ribs angularity, leg quality, quality of udder, animal species) were within the limits of 5.00-5.90 (points). The main shortcomings of the exterior are related to the deterioration of the technological properties of udder after 2 calvings, and the global assessment of some characteristics is reduced: suspensory ligament of udder, depth and height of the udder attachment. The milk quality indicators derived from the average data of the individual dairy productions of cows were: fat - 3.98 g %, protein - 3.23 g %, somatic cells - 285 thousand C/ML, which corresponded to the breeds of animals and the Russian quality parameters for the "high-class" milk category. The prospective selection direction is determined to produce individual bull-makers to improve the groups of features: the quality of legs and the quality of udder.