Duration of economic use of lithuanian heavy draft stud mares

Abstract

The development of milk horse breeding in Russia contributes to the high genetic potential of heavy draft stud mares. The Republic of Mari El has been breeding heavy draft horses to produce koumiss since 1977. The efficiency of heavy draft horse breeding depends on the intensity of use of the breeding stock. At the same time the duration of economic use of animals is of great importance as the duration of the use of horses provides not only economic benefits but also the breeding progress of the herd. The studies on duration of economic use of Lithuanian heavy draft stud mares and their lifetime productivity were conducted on the Koumiss farm of ZAO PZ “Semenovsky” of the Medvedevsky region of the Mari El Republic. The studies have shown that the duration of economic use of Lithuanian heavy draft stud mares on the farm is 4, 195 days or 11.5 years on the average. The study of the lifetime productivity revealed that the Lithuanian heavy draft stud mares had a high lifetime milk yield. As a result of the research the significant positive correlation between the duration of use of the mares and their lifetime milk yield was found out. There is a small positive correlation between the duration of economic use and 1-day milk yield of the economic use and 1-day lactation. The analysis of duration of economic use of Lithuanian heavy draft stud mares depending on their father’s genotype has showed that the longest lactation in the herd was among the daughters of stallion Sunkumas 32 – 15 years. Thus, when conducting selection and breeding work, the farms have great possibilities to increase the period of economic use of horses on this farm and increase their lifetime productivity.