Black-and-white breed of cows
The relatively young black-and-white breed of cows has found its admirers and has established itself in domestic animal husbandry.
Black and white breed of cows
About black-and-white cows
The Russian black-and-white breed of cows appeared after the 30s of the last century as a result of domestic breeding work, in which cattle from Russian regions were crossed with representatives of Dutch cattle. The breeding of a new breed of cattle for Russia took place in stages:
- initially, a variety of crossbreeds were obtained, thanks to the use of Dutch cows and bulls;
- Subsequently, the specimens obtained from crossing were selected according to the necessary specified quality characteristics, improved their productivity and fixed the best qualities of the newly bred black-and-white cattle at the genetic level.
Initially, black-and-white cows were susceptible to various kinds of diseases, without a high and stable immunity. They had a fragile physique, but high indicators of milkiness. As a result of many years of breeding work of domestic scientists, the animals' resistance to infections has increased, their health has improved and the quality characteristics of the meat products issued have improved.
The USSR Ministry of Agriculture recognized the black-and-white breed of cows as an independent branch in animal husbandry, approving the standard in 1959.
The rapid growth in the popularity of cows fell on the 60s of the last century, when the breed was improved, and the farms of Volgograd, Ryazan, Novgorod, Tver and other Russian regions began to breed black-and-white cattle in their livestock farms. Today, the distribution area of animals covers most of the Russian territory, starting in the west to the Pacific Ocean and ending with the northern borders in the direction of Kazakhstan. The dairy cow found its fans, occupying a niche in the ranks with red-and-white representatives, and outside our country. Its productivity is known in other states.
Exterior of black motley animals
A general description of the appearance of black-and-white cattle covers the entire breed as a whole. The most characteristic feature of representatives of domestic livestock, which is hard not to notice in the photo, is undoubtedly the color: on a black background covering the entire body of the animal, white spots of different sizes are randomly scattered.
In addition, the characteristics of these animals include a description of the main characteristics of the breed:
- a long head with an elongated muzzle and gray horns topped with dark tips,
- non-muscular fold neck,
- medium width chest, up to 0.7-0.75 m deep,
- an even dorsal region with a straight loin and a wide sacrum,
- evenly spaced strong limbs,
- a voluminous abdominal cavity with a bowl-shaped udder, in which the lobes are uneven, and the nipples are located at a fairly close distance from each other.
A powerful, proportionally folded cow at the withers grows to 1.3-1.35 m. Among the variegated cattle of this domestic breed, there are 3 fundamental types.
- A species that has developed in the central region of Russia, which is distinguished by a larger body structure. The weight of these representatives reaches 0.55-0.65 tons in a motley heifer and 0.9-1.0 tons in a motley bull. This type applies not only to dairy, but also gives out meat.
- The Ural type is characterized by a dry body, which makes the animals light and graceful in appearance.
- Siberian black animals are smaller in size than representatives from the center and do not differ in the density of the constitution of the physique. The average weight of this type does not usually exceed half a ton.
In addition to the above types, in different farms there are:
- The Holstein cow, which survived as a progenitor, involved in crossbreeding to breed black pieds, and spread throughout North America, thanks to its good milk production.
- Yaroslavl Pestrushka, bred in the Yaroslavl region by selecting bright representatives for crossing and today is distinguished by its angularity and underdeveloped muscular constitution. However, now it is famous for its good indicators of the fat content of the milk dispensed.
Productive indicators
Every farmer who has such a color of cows on the farm knows that it refers more to the dairy direction than to the meat one. But it is also possible to get meat from breeding this cattle.
Meat productivity
Newborn calves weigh from 37 to 42 kg and, being food lovers, are able to gain up to 0.6-0.8 kg daily. With intensive fattening, bulls and heifers add 1 kg per day.
Referring to the early maturing breeds of cattle, the black-and-white cow quickly gains weight and produces quality meat.
By reaching the age of 1.5 years, young bulls record weight indicators up to 0.4 tons, the largest representatives by this time are approaching the figure of half a ton.
The matured individual carries up to 1 ton of body weight on its shoulders. Slaughter yield from such animals ranges from 50% or more.
Dairy performance
Black-and-white cows living in different regions of Russia give different amounts of dairy products. The size of milk yield also depends on the conditions of the animals and their diet.
Pedigree cattle of the central Russian regions often record a high milk yield: up to 8 thousand kg per year. At the same time, the fat content of the products obtained from black-and-white cows is more than 3.5%, while the protein content is 3-3.2%.
Under normal conditions of keeping black-and-white cattle, it provides stable productivity: - Average annual milk yield of high-quality milk is 3.0-3.5 thousand kg.
Burenki from Siberia are capable of producing up to 6 thousand kg of milk per year with an average fat content of 3.7-3.9% and protein of about 3.2-3.3%.
In comparison with the inhabitants of the center, the burenka from the Ural region lags slightly behind its close relatives, fixing productivity lower: the annual milk yield is up to 5.5 thousand kg, however, their fat content figures often exceed those of other types and vary about 4.0% with protein in 3 , 45-3.47%.
Features of the content
One of the positive aspects of keeping black-and-white cattle is that in the summer, the animals go out to feed themselves on natural pastures, without requiring the owner to spend additional costs on feed. At the onset of winter, for unpretentious cows, feeding is reduced to a sufficient amount of hay and juicy supplements. Often, domestic livestock breeders raise black-and-white cattle because of good profitability, when they want to have a constant profit from the sale of dairy and meat products.
For breeding, representatives of black-and-white cattle have a number of advantages and benefits that make it easy to care for them:
- currently bred cattle are distinguished by good health and strong immunity,
- motley cow easily adapts to new living conditions,
- livestock belongs to a moderately early maturing type, capable of gaining good weight and muscle mass in a short time, spending on this average amount of feed and food additives,
- the black-and-white breed of cows gives out high-performance productivity, which is distinguished by good quality: lean meat is appreciated among consumers, milk has high quality characteristics of fat and protein content.
In addition to the fact that this domestic breed has many advantages, reviews of livestock breeders note that it has some disadvantages that farmers would like to reduce by improving the quality of the breed, including:
- bring the types of black-and-white animals as close as possible to each other,
- increase the size of livestock,
- to increase milk yield and product quality.