The state of development of dairy cattle breeding in Ukraine for the period of 2011–2016 was analyzed. The trends of livestock changes, volumes of milk production depending on regions, forms of organization, breeder's membership, breeding and breeding work, influence of genetic and paratyphoid factors on indicators of development of the industry are determined.
An analysis of the location of dairy cattle, its concentration, organizational forms of milk production shows significant differences between regions, both in terms of the number of dairy herds and milk production volumes. The largest concentration of cows' livestock in agricultural enterprises is observed in the northern and central regions, in particular, Poltava, Cherkassy, Sumy, Chernihiv, Khmelnytsky oblast.
Large agricultural enterprises are more cost-effective than small ones, but the last ones during 2010–2016 still prevailed in the total number of agricultural enterprises - more than 50%.
The number of cows of diary and diary-meat breeds decreased almost twice (from 5431 thousand in 2000 to 2736,5 thousand in 2010), and in agricultural enterprises and farms – in four times (correspondingly from 2475 to 604.6 thousand goals). Despite the simultaneous growth of 71.6% of the average cow supply (from 2359 kg – 2000 to 4049 kg – 2009), gross milk production, after some growth until 2005, in 2009 decreased by 13.5% comparing to 2001. The same trend in the dynamics of livestock population continued in the next five years. The number of cows of Ukrainian Black-and-White diary breed as of 01.01.2016 in the control herds decreased to 68181 or 11217 heads, Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy – by 8677 and Ukrainian Red diary – by 4110 heads. At this, gross milk production increased from 2216,6 tons in 2010 to 2705,6 tons in 2016. It should be emphasized that the increase in milk production occurred only in agricultural enterprises due to the growth of productivity of cows from 3975 kg in 2010 to 5643 kg in 2016, that is almost twice.
An analysis of the structure of milk production in agricultural enterprises shows the gradual increase in production volumes by large farms, which is a positive trend in terms of milk quality, economic efficiency of its production, and their development as more investment attractive. An important factor in the growth of milk production is the breeding stock of cows. Over the past 5 years, the total number of breeding cows has decreased from 153.6 thousand heads to 128.2 thousand, that is on 12 per cent. The reduction in the number of cows applies to all breeds, but most of it occurred in Red dairy breeds (16.3%).
The milk yield of the cows of breeding herds of new domestic breeds grew in all breeds and made up 6613 kg of milk in Ukrainian Black-and-White diary breed with a fat content of 3.70%, protein 3.27%, Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy breeding, respectively 6357; 3.76; 3.26; Red diary – 5963; 3.87 and 3.29.
An equally important problem in the development of dairy cattle breeding in Ukraine is the low level of reproduction of animals against the background of reducing the number of livestock and increasing its productivity. This is confirmed by the low yield of calves in farms of different categories. So for 2016, according to statistics, he was 70 calves per 100 cows.
One of the factor that reduces the calving out is the natural biological antagonism of milk yield and reproductive capacity of the cows. Growth in milk yield of cows in breeding flocks with an increase in the heredity of the Holstein breed led to a decrease in the yield of calves per 100 cows to 68.7 heads (in 2010).
The duration of productive use has the opposite tendency - in newly created domestic breeds it extends to 3–4 lactations, in Holstein – up to 1.8–2.0 lactation.
The level of heifer cultivation is a major paratypic factor affecting the formation of their productive features. The intensity of breeding heifers and heifers does not fully meet the requirements of the standard domestic breeds for their live weight. From 2019, 33498 heifers in only 45.7% – 71.5% of heads, average live weight in 6 months corresponded to the breed standard, in 12 months – 61.1–82.1 and 18 months old – 63.1–73,9%. In a number of even breeding farms, the average daily gain of heifers at 6–12 months of age, during the formation of the organism, is 550–625 g. As a rule, in such farms they do not reach a high level of milk productivity.
The ways and methods of reforming dairy cattle for the period up to 2025 should be formed on such bases:
- in organizational terms, focusing on the expansion of milk production in large farms, which is positive in terms of the use of modern intensive technologies, the economic efficiency of its production, the attractiveness of investment;
- the revival of the national selection system, which corresponds to the best examples of its organization in European countries;
- domestic dairy breeds must be established as the basis of domestic dairy cattle breeding, which correspond to the conditions of their breeding and quality of products according to a set of features;
- amendments to the Procedure for using the funds provided for in the state budget, directing them to implementation of the breeding program in livestock, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
Execution of the proposed measures will allow to achieve the volumes of production of milk and dairy products provided by the Program.
Effect of increasing accuracy of genomic evaluations on economic efficiency of dairy cattle breeding programmes