FEASIBILITY OF USING THE GENE POOL OF THE SYCHEVSKAYA BREED TO IMPROVE SIMMENTAL DAIRY CATTLE IN SIBERIA

Abstract

The research results into the history of the Siberian zonal type of Simmental cattle creation are reflected. It has been established that the leading role in its formation was played by the Smolensk region’s Simmental cattle, which in 1950 was registered as a Sychevskaya breed. Bulls of Swiss, German and Austrian breeding were also used. Since the mid-80s. 20th century to increase milk productivity and suitability for industrial technology, Siberian herds of semimetals were actively crossed with bulls of the Holstein breed (red-and-white colour), and since the beginning of the 21st century. Producers of Austrian and German origin are widely used, which has led to a significant increase in milk productivity, quality indicators of milk and live weight of animals. As a result, domestic lines are practically not found in the Simmental herds of Siberia. Accordingly, the valuable adaptive qualities necessary for dairy cattle breeding in areas with highly natural and climatic conditions were partly lost. Many of the cows began to deviate towards the meat and dairy type, which harmed milk productivity. The gene pool of the domestic Simmental of the desired dairy and milk-meat type has been preserved only in the form of the Sychevskaya breed in the Smolensk, Tver and Kaluga regions. Data on the current state of the number of livestock, genealogical structure and productive indicators of the Sychevskaya breed are presented. The Sychevskaya breed is superior to the Simmental breed in terms of the mass fraction of fat and protein in milk, the yield of calves, the duration of the dry period, the product of meat from a cow, the number of heifers for breeding sales per 1 cow, which provides it with a higher efficiency rating. The expediency of using bulls of the Sychevskaya breed for selection and breeding work with herds of Simmentals in areas with highly natural and climatic conditions in farms with low food supply, specialising in milk production, is substantiated.