Ayrshire breed of cows
The Ayrshire cattle breed attracts many breeders of cattle around the world, distinguished by its milk production, receiving extremely positive feedback from livestock breeders.
Ayrshire breed of cows
The uniqueness of the Ayrshire
Ayrshire dairy cows formed as an independent branch of cattle by 1814, first appearing in the Scottish county of Ayr. Among the progenitors of the Ayrshire, cattle breeds such as Shorthorn, Alderney, Tisvater, Jersey are noted.
The Ayrshire cows, which appeared as a result of crossing with local brown and variegated animals, were noticed due to their beautiful exterior, as can be seen from photos and videos. With their excellent udder structure, they have become excellent dairy producers and have won the hearts of fans with excellent quality milk for dairy and butter making.
Ayrshire cows are bred in countries with a wide variety of climates, from northern Finland to southern Africa and Colombia. The largest population of the Ayrshire breed is found in Finland, with about 140,000 animals. In Russia, they began to breed from the end of the 19th century. The price of an adult starts from 100 thousand rubles.
In the conditions of walking on natural pastures, the representatives of cattle gained endurance and strong constitution, the ability to quickly acclimatize, which had a direct impact on the quality of milk produced. Animals of this breed easily adapted to new climatic conditions, therefore they quickly spread throughout Europe and North America, bypassing only hot equatorial countries, where Ayrshirs are rarely bred.
Ayrshire appearance
Ayrshirs have a pronounced milky body type, which can be easily seen in photos and videos:
- proportional size, the body is long with a straight back and a long lumbar region, sharp and even shoulders and a deep chest,
- an even neck smoothly turns into a proportionally folded head with a wide muzzle,
- from the front the udder looks strong and taut, from the back it is set high and wide, with evenly developed nipples up to 6 cm long,
- milk vein is long, tortuous,
- legs neatly folded with strong and smooth hocks,
- hooves are distinguished by smooth edges.
When breeding Ayrshirs, advanced breeding farms pay special attention to the condition of the hooves of animals, selecting for selection those individuals with healthy limbs, which is of no small importance for preserving the longevity of a milk cow.
The color of these animals has a reddish variegated shade. In this case, the predominance of red or white is permissible. The red tint is possible in variations from light reddish tones to dark browns. Some Ayrshire bulls are marked with dark spots similar to black.
For a long time, the trademark of the Ayrshirs was the horns - lyre-shaped, with the ends bent back.
The average weight for this breed of cows is about 0.6 tons.
Ayrshire productivity
Every farmer who owns this breed will say that milk from these cows is distinguished by excellent taste. In addition, a feature of their dairy products is the low content of somatic cells in milk. These qualities have become the reason why in many countries this dairy product is used for the production of baby food.
Average milk yield from the representatives of the described breed totaled up to 8.5 thousand kg of milk with protein indicators of 3.4%, fat content - at least 4.3%.
Newborn Ayrshire calves are born weighing 25-30 kg, viable and easy to maintain and care for. One-year-old animals weigh 0.25 - 0.3 tons. The early-maturing cow becomes suitable for insemination by the age of 14 months. The bulls show a good feeding performance. Animals quickly gain weight, giving out up to 55% of live meat weight for slaughter.
Positive qualities of the breed
Ayrshire cattle differs from other representatives of cattle in its positive qualities and has its advantages.
- Ayrshirs can boast of stable milk yields, while the productivity of this breed is maintained at the proper level even with existing problems with feed, gradually reducing only the fat content of the product.
- The Ayrshire cows, similar to the Holstein breed, are superior to them in the quality of milk produced, which is distinguished by high basic indicators of fat and protein content.
- The Ayrshire cow has established itself for long-term productivity. Among the representatives of cattle of this breed, numerous life-long annual milk yields of more than 150,000 kg of dairy products have been recorded.
- Representatives of the breed are able to adapt to different climates, differing in endurance and unpretentiousness to the feed used.
- The Ayrshirs have excellent health, including well-built limbs and healthy udders, and have easy calving.
- In the process of breeding, livestock breeders noted the absence of any serious defects in the field of genetics in the Ayrshire breed, which could be transmitted through the hereditary line, including from bulls carrying low-quality alleles.
Reviews of livestock breeders claim that Ayrshire cows are easy to keep, they are suitable for grazing and have an active temperament. The Ayrshire characterization does not mention any downsides that breeders might have noted.