Improvement of dairy herd of red steppe breed

The purpose of this work is to analyze the productive qualities of cows and the selection of sires in order to improve the dairy herd and increase the genetic potential of cattle. The relevance of the research problem is due to the policy of import substitution in the field of milk production. Generalization of the material and estimation of the herd parameters have established that the cows of the red steppe breed belong to the elite-record class (99.3%) and elite (0.7%) and have desirable body type, well expressed dairy forms, developed, voluminous, and regular udder form. The indicators of linear estimation of the exterior are characterized by very low variability. The coefficients of inheritance of milk yield (0.32), milk fat and protein content (0.51 and 0.46 respectively) exceed the average values of the breed and show a high genetic predisposition of the herd cows to milk productivity. The calculated correlation coefficients between the milk yield and the amount of milk fat and protein (above 0.9) have a positive trend, while the negative correlation between the milk yield and the mass fraction of milk fat and protein in milk (-0.25 and -0.28) shows that with the increase of abundant milking the decrease of these indicators occurs. The bulls of Angler, Red Danish and red-motley Holstein breeds can be considered the optimal choice of bulls for the Red Steppe cows, but in order to demonstrate the high productivity the blood ratio of the progeny should not exceed 87,5% of red-motley Holstein and not more than 75% of Angler breed. This will allow the breeders of the enterprise to successfully solve complex problems on improvement of breeding and productive qualities of dairy cattle and increase the efficiency of milk production.