Assessment of the current state of the dairy cattle industry in the North-Western Federal District and the Vologda Region

Dynamic changes in the dairy cattle industry in the North-Western Federal District and the Vologda Region require their monitoring and studying to determine promising development trends. The article presents gross milk production analysis, the dynamics of livestock and economically useful characteristics of dairy cattle in the North-Western Federal District and the Vologda Region taking into account the statistical collected works data published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2020, the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, and the yearbooks for 2011-2020 on breeding dairy cattle in the Russian Federation. The number of dairy cattle has been stabilized since 2017 in the district, and since 2013 in the region. A period of cow use has been reduced in 2019 compared to 2011 by 0.32 calving in the Northwestern Federal District and by 0.15 calving in the Vologda region. There is a growth tendency in milk productivity: the milk yield of cows has increased by 2304 kg in the Northwestern Federal District, and by 2470 kg of milk in the Vologda Region in 2010-2019. The authors describe the breeding base of the district and the region by the specific weight of the breeding stock, the number of breeding farms, the level of productivity and the sales volume of breeding animals. The article gives a brief description of the breed structure of dairy cattle in the district and the region and analyzes the genetic potential of breeding bulls used in the breeding stock of dairy breeds of the Vologda region. The authors also determine the main directions in selection and breeding, which are aimed at dairy breed improvement in the region.