The state of dairy cattle breeding in the world, in Russia and the Vologda oblast

The study was carried out in order to obtain new knowledge about the current state of dairy cattle breeding. We obtained the results of the monitoring of dairy cattle, gross milk production, milk production per capita, average milk yield per cow per year in the countries of the world, Russia and the Vologda Oblast. It is noted that dairy cattle breeding is one of the leading sectors of animal husbandry that provides people with the most important food. Milk, dairy products and meat account for 49.7% of the share of livestock products in the Russian Federation. The leading countries for the production of milk are Asian countries, which produce 39.3% of the total volume of milk in the world. As of 2014, the most numerous populations of dairy cattle, according to Rosstat, are in India - 297 million head, in Brazil - 214 million head, and in China - 141 million head. The leaders in the gross production of cow milk in the world are the USA and India (91.3 and 60.6 million tons, respectively). The highest milk production per capita for 2014 is registered in New Zealand (3,467.9 kg), Ireland (1,205 kg), and Denmark (852.9 kg). The leading countries in terms of milk yield per cow per year are Israel (11,038 kg), the Republic of Korea (10,160 kg) and the USA (9,902 kg). In the Russian Federation, as of the end of 2014, there were 19.3 million head of cattle in farms of all categories; gross production of cow milk was 30.5 million tons; average milk yield per cow was 4,134 kg per year. As of 2016, milk production per capita in Russia amounted to 239 kg, which is lower than the standard by 86 kg. The Vologda Oblast belongs to Russian regions with the most developed dairy cattle breeding. During 2012-2017, gross milk production increased by 54.7 thousand tons and average milk yield per cow - from 5524 to 6916 kg per year. Cattle breeding farms in the region introduce innovative milking technology such as a robotic voluntary milking system. Further development of the dairy cattle industry in the oblast is conducted in accordance with the state program of development of agriculture and consumer market of the Vologda Oblast for 2013-2020. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study includes works by domestic researchers. General scientific research methods (monographic, statistical, visualization, etc.) are used. The new knowledge will serve as a basis for innovative research for further development of domestic dairy cattle breeding.