Economically useful traits of cows Australian breeding in the Amur region

Recently, a signifi cant number of livestock of specialized beef breeds is imported from abroad particularly from Australia. So the study of the adaptive ability and eff ectiveness of the use of Australian cattle of Hereford breed in the Amur region is relevant. The purpose of the work was to study the growth, development and reproductive capacity of Hereford cattle in the Amur region. Experimental studies have been carried out in the collective farm “Tomichevsky” in the Belogorsky district in the Amur region for four years. The reproductive ability of imported Hereford cows of Australian selection, as well as indicators of calving easy, live weight and height in the rump have been examined in the article. The assessment of similar indicators of progeny obtained from imported cows-dams and dams of local selection have been given. It has been found that the cows of the Australian breeding had a large live weight and were taller than the cows of Hereford breed the same age as the cows of Amur breeding. Fewer off spring were obtained from imported cows, a high percentage of dead calves were born, long open day’s period and calving interval, and a low coeffi cient of reproductive ability have been revealed. When analyzing the results of the study of the adaptive ability of Hereford cows obtained from imported Australian Hereford cows and Hereford cows of the Amur breeding, it has been found that all calving were successful in the cows, and no cases of dead calves were born. Indicators of reproductive ability were within the normal range, but were more optimal in the progeny of Australian breeding. The results obtained on base of researches we can conclude that the progeny of Australian Herefords have higher adaptive abilities in comparison with similar indicators of their mothers.