Evolutionary changes of the Gray Ukrainian breed

Abstract

The article presents the macro- and micro-evolutionary changes of the Gray Ukrainian breed over the past 100 years, which can be used in breeding and selection to preserve the existing gene pool population and in its further use, and can be useful in the breeding process not only in Ukraine, but also in other countries. At the same time, animals and even families that were weak, sickly and did not meet the requirements of the program of its development and preservation were ranked off and not used in breeding. Compared to similar animals that left the herd, it was possible to improve some external indicators in the historical aspect: body length, hips width, and chest girth, which influenced the cattle live weight. The important fact is that it is characterized by high reproductive properties (yield of calves is 97–98 per 100 cows, which is not found in any specialized meat breed in the world) and excellent maternal qualities. At the same time, a strong constitution, resistance to diseases, small fetus size and good adaptation to a dry hot climate, pasture-free maintenance and ecological fodder and technological conditions of the steppe zone of Ukraine were preserved. During the extended period of raising animals, the gray Ukrainian breed is not inferior to the classic meat breeds of the world in terms of fattening quality (30-month-old bulls on fattening more than 1000 g/day) and slaughter performance — the slaughter yield has increased to 60%. Beef is rated at 4.5 points on a 5-point scale in terms of culinary and taste qualities, it has the meat marbling which attracts the processor company and the consumer. The skin of animals is highly valued: already at the age of one year, the skin of bulls is marked as heavy (over 25 kg), which allows to use it for the high-quality products manufacture. Due to the set of economically useful characteristics, gray Ukrainian cattle are classified as meat and contribute to the establishment of state meat cattle breeding.