Forage lands as a basis for animal husbandry development in the Tyva Republic

The paper deals with the issues of fodder lands as a fundamental factor in the development of fod- der production and animal husbandry in the Republic of Tyva. It is shown that the leading branch of agriculture is animal husbandry. Agriculture reached its maximum development in the 1970s-1980s. The sown area was 370.7 hectares, in the 1990s due to the economic situation in the country, there was a decrease in sown areas and livestock. The largest number of small cattle was recorded in the 1980s (1119.0 thousand heads), and the smallest at the beginning of 2000 - 653 thousand heads. The area under fodder crops has decreased by almost 30 times. Currently, there has been an increase in the number of livestock, there has been a trend towards an increase in the area under fodder crops (35 thousand hectares). In terms of the number of small cattle, the republic occupies one of the first places in the Siberian Federal District (1235.5 thousand heads). In most kozhuuns, livestock is kept on natural pastures all year round. Only in the central agricultural zone winter stall keeping of cattle is practiced. In the western and southern kozhuuns, hay is harvested to feed queens and young animals in winter. The feed quality is low. Hay and haylage are mainly class III, which is associated with non-compliance with the terms of forage harvesting. The provision of livestock in winter is on average 6.9 centners of fodder per unit on a conditional head, in some kozhuuns even lower. In general, the productivity of livestock in the republic is low: milk yield per 1 cow is 1092 liters, the weight of small cattle is on average 35 kg. For the successful development of animal husbandry, it is necessary to create a stable fodder base, independent of the climatic conditions of the year: it is important to pay attention to the assortment of cultivated fodder crops and the timely preparation of fodder at the optimal phases of plant development, the creation of irrigated cultivated pastures from legume-cereal grass mixtures, such as alfalfa, sainfoin, rump, with a green mass yield of 12.3-14.0 t/ha and annual mixtures of Sudanese + peas, millet + peas, oats + pelushka, providing green mass yields of 18.5 respectively in the republic; 19.7; 19.3 t/ha.