PERIOD OF USE AND PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF SYCHEVSKAYA BREED AND BROWN SWISS COWS
The article presents materials of a study carried out on cows of Sychevskaya breed and Brown Swiss. The authors studied productive and reproductive characteristics of animals of two breeds in identical feeding and rearing conditions. Cows of Sychevskaya breed showed superior characteristics of milk yield during the 1st lactation, the 3rd lactation and the whole period of cows'' use, specifically by 426 kg, 843 kg and 1211 kg of milk respectively as compared with herd mates of Brown Swiss, at the same time they had lower indices of milk fat and protein mass fraction and a shorter period of practical use. Cows of Sychevskaya breed and Brown Swiss showed similar results in principal reproductive indices. The product price of cows of Sychevskaya breed exceeded that of cows of Brown Swiss at most by 5238 rubles in money terms.