TY - JOUR AU - I. Goncharova PY - 1970/01/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - MILKING CAPACITY OF COWS – FIRST-CALF MEAT BREED HEIFERS JF - Theoretical and Applied Veterinary Medicine JA - TAVM VL - 4 IS - 2 SE - Articles DO - UR - https://bulletin-biosafety.com/index.php/journal/article/view/22 AB - In cattle farming, a cow is considered to be better if it gives birth to a calf for the first time at younger age and if it has good mothering abilities at high milking capacity, which makes it possible to receive calves with higher body weight before their absence. Milking capacity of meat breed heifers is the principal factor that determines the growth and development of sucker calves and economic efficiency of beef farming in Ukraine. Research shows that meat breed heifers have insufficient milking capacity and lower body weight of ablate calves. This is a deterrent factor to their wide usage in the market economy. Which have insufficient milking capacity (less than 1200 kg) are not able to grow big calves without the additional usage of concentrated forage and they are accompanied by a price rise in growth and reduced profits. It is therefore necessary to normalize selection to increase milking capacity meat breed heifers up to 1600-2000 kg. Body weight of suckle calves depends on the level of milking capacity of heifers which is one of the most important factors in beef production in beef farming. This factor shows the amount of products which we receive from one cow per year. Experimentally, we made four groups of 12 animals in each group. In the first group the forage was carried out according to the standards in the second group the forage was low, as it is common in most households, in the third group the forage was 20% above the standards and in the fourth group it was 10% above the standards.As a result research has showed that the level of milking capacity of first-calf heifers of all groups has increased during the first three months of their lactation and then it has decreased. Monthly milking capacity was high in all the experimental groups. However, intensively bred first born in the third and the fourth group had higher milk-yield 68.3 kg (5.9%) and 33.4 kg (2.9%) than their peers in the first group during their first eight months of lactation.The highest milking capacity was observed in first-calf heifers of the same group (209,5 ± 1,03 and 207,0 ± 0,92 kg) during their third month of lactation. Due to the large milking capacity of first-calf heifers of the third and the fourth groups intensively bred heifers had suckler calves with higher body weight when they were 8 months old. So according to this factor they were 16.6 kg (7.15% R≥0,95) and 15,1kg (6.5% R≥0,95) bigger than the calves in the control group.  ER -