Influence of mothers’ age and productivity on the growth and development of black-and-white calves

The article presents the relevance of the issue concerning the influence of mothers’ age and productivity on the growth and development of black- and-white calves. The tests have been carried out in the Vologda district, Vologda region according to universally accepted methods. The calves have been grouped according to their age and live weight at birth; all the animals have been kept under equal conditions and raised according to the farm technology. The data obtained have showed that an increase in the productivity level of replacement herd’s mothers has not had a negative impact on the growth and development of their offspring and has been accompanied by an increase in their daughters’ live weight as well as by an increase in their growth intensity. The largest live weight and average daily weight gain in heifers have been truly observed in the group of mothers with milk yield of more than 8000 kg of milk. Analysis of influence of the mothers’ age on the growth of their offspring has not revealed any significant differences in the animal live weight between the groups by 6 months of age. The live weight of young cattle at the age of six months has ranged from 186 to 190 kg in every group. The calves of the second calving have surpassed their peers from other groups in average daily growth gain over the entire period of the research. Thus, these data confirm the relevance of the issue concerning the study of influence of mothers’ age and productivity for effective breeding work with black-and-white cattle.