Content
Due to the increased demand for dairy products in both Russian capitals in the 19th century in the Yaroslavl province, the flourishing of the cheese and butter industries began. Convenient communication routes between Yaroslavl, Moscow and St. Petersburg also contributed to the successful sales. But the production of cheese and butter requires a lot of milk. At that time, the Yaroslavl villages could not provide the industrialists with the necessary volumes of raw materials.
In an attempt to obtain the milk necessary for the business, dairy partnerships were created, initially selecting the individuals they needed from the available livestock of northern Great Russian cows. Until it was possible to take into account productivity, the selection of cows was carried out by color. The bulls were selected for the exterior. Much later, Yaroslavl cattle began to be selected for milk yield and fat content.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Yaroslavl breed of cows received recognition from industrialists and began to spread throughout the neighboring provinces. After the revolution, peasant breeding gardens were created, where cow owners could bring their animals to mate with a thoroughbred bull, and large associations engaged in breeding work.
At the end of the 30s, they tried to cross the Yaroslavok with Ost-Frisian bulls. But this crossing led to the loss of the main feature of milk in Yaroslavl cows: fat content. Milk quality has dropped dramatically. In the 1980s, Yaroslavl cows were again crossed with Holstein cattle for the sake of increasing milk yield. As a result, the so-called Mikhailovsky type of the Yaroslavl breed arose.
Today, the Yaroslavka, which has a selective value, is being ousted by more milk-producing foreign breeds, and its number is decreasing. The total number of cows of the Yaroslavl breed in 2007 was 300 thousand heads. This is only 2.5% of the total number of cattle bred in the Russian Federation. The largest number of Yaroslavl cattle is concentrated in the Vologda, Tver, Ivanovo and Yaroslavl regions.
Description of the Yaroslavl breed
Yaroslavl cows are animals of a pronounced dairy type. The Yaroslavka has a dry, angular body with a well-developed bone. The height of the cows is from 125 to 127 cm, the oblique length is from 152 to 155 cm. That is, the index of elongation in the cows of the Yaroslavl breed is 121.6 - 122. The head is dry, graceful, light. The facial part of the head is elongated. The neck is long and thin. The chest is deep, but narrow, the dewlap is poorly developed. The withers are high. The sacrum is raised above the lumbar spine, creating an undesirable topline for a dairy breed. The croup is wide. Legs are thin, short. The girth of the pastern is 17–18 cm. The bone index is 13.6–14. The udder is medium in size, bowl-shaped.
A drooping or roof-like croup is an exterior fault.
The color of cows of the Yaroslavl breed is mainly black with a white muzzle. But recessive red color is very rare. If the pezhina on the head is a mandatory sign of the Yaroslavl, then the rest of the marks are desirable, but not necessary. Often, Yaroslavs can have dark "glasses" around the eyes and pezhina on the belly, legs and tip of the tail.
Productive characteristics of the Yaroslavl breed of cows
The weight of adult Jaroslavs is small: 350 - 450 kg. Bulls, possessing a decent muscle mass, can outnumber queens by 2 times in weight. The weight of the Yaroslavl bull is 700 - 900, sometimes 1200 kg.The photo shows that even a young bull with an elegant skeleton has a decent amount of muscles.
In cattle, only cows were selected for human orientation in order to be able to receive milk from them. Few people were interested in the nature of the bulls that went for meat. Therefore, in almost all breeds of cattle, with a calm disposition of cows, bulls are often spiteful and aggressive. Scratching the forehead, they perceive as an invitation to wrestle.
Calves are born weighing 25 - 30 kg. The meat qualities of Yaroslavok are worse than that of black and white cattle, but the bulls feed quickly, reaching a weight of 350 kg by one and a half years. Slaughter yield of meat from the carcass of a 1.5-year-old calf is 52 - 57%. With a competent diet during the fattening period, the meat yield can reach 60%. Delicate lean meat of Yaroslavl gobies has a good taste.
Milk productivity during lactation can reach 5000 liters. Milk has a high taste and contains 4% fat.
When the diet improves, the cows immediately respond with an increase in milk yield. True, there is also a flip side of the coin: when you try to feed Yaroslavl women with low-quality hay or concentrates, the cows will immediately "repay" with a decrease in productivity.
Among the advantages of the breed, in addition to the taste obtained from livestock products, it is possible to note resistance to diseases, including leukemia.
On a note! It is better to buy a thoroughbred Yaroslavl cow in specialized breeding farms.
Reviews of the owners of the Yaroslavl breed of cows
Conclusion
Yaroslavl cattle are well suited for keeping in household plots. The small size of the cow and the good slaughter yield of meat from the bull make this breed profitable for private ownership. Yaroslavka more than pays for her exactingness to the nutritional value of feed with high-quality milk, the fat content of which is one of the highest.
