The effectiveness of using whole and fermented milk in feeding of young animals

Abstract

A dairy cattle breeding is one of the main directions of modern animal husbandry all over the world. The state of the industry is of great importance for the economy and food security of our state. The basis of dynamically developing dairy cattle breeding is the rearing of healthy young animals that will be able to realize their genetic potential and give high productivity. The purpose of the research was to study the effectiveness of the use of whole and fermented milk in feeding of heifers. The research was carried out in LLC “Agrofirma Zarya” of the Kurgan region on heifers of Blackand- White breed. The feeding of the calves of the experimental groups was the same, according to the feeding standards. Immediately after calving colostrum were given to the calves on the farm. Drinking the fi rst portion of colostrum was carried out during the fi rst 1,5–2 hours after calving and lasted for 10 days. Then the animals of experimental group were transferred to drinking fermented milk. During the studies the calves of the control group were given whole milk, and the animals of the experimental group received fermented milk. Fermented milk was drunk until the heifers reached a live weight of 84 kg. It was found that the diff erence in live weight between the control and experimental groups of heifers was 3,9 kg at 3 months of age, 11,2 kg (p ≤ 0,05) at 6 months of age, 7,2 kg at 10 months of age, 11,2 kg at 12 months of age in favor of the experimental group. Thus, drinking fermented milk to heifers has advantages over whole milk such as during the period of preweaning rearing, young animals are healthier due to the preliminary splitting of proteins with acid, which minimizes the occurrence of diarrhea in calves, in this regard, the live weight gain of calves increases and their livability improves.