The Ayrshire breed of cows attracts many cattle breeders around the world, distinguished by their milk production, receiving extremely positive feedback from livestock producers.
Ayrshire breed of cows
The uniqueness of the Ayrshire
Ayrshire dairy cows formed as an independent branch of cattle by 1814, first appearing in the Scottish county of Ayr. Among the ancestors of the ayrshir, such cattle breeds as Shorthorn, Alderney, Tiswaters, and Jersey are noted.
Aireshire cows appeared as a result of crossbreeding with local brown and variegated animals due to their beautiful exterior, as can be seen from the photo and video. With their excellent udder structure, they have become excellent dairy producers and have won the hearts of fans with excellent quality milk for dairy and butter making.
Ayrshire cows are bred in countries with a wide variety of climates, from northern Finland to southern Africa and Colombia. The largest population of Ayrshire breed is in Finland and has about 140,000 animals. In Russia, they began to breed them from the end of the 19th century. The price of an adult starts from 100 thousand rubles.
In the conditions of walking on natural pastures, the representatives of cattle gained endurance and strong constitution, the ability to quickly acclimatize, which had a direct impact on the quality of milk produced. Animals of this breed easily adapted to new climatic conditions, therefore they quickly spread throughout Europe and North America, bypassing only the hot equatorial countries, where Ayrshirs are rarely bred.
Appearance of Ayrshirs
- proportional size, the body is long with a straight back and a long lumbar region, sharp and even shoulders and a deep chest,
- a straight neck smoothly passes into a proportionally folded head with a wide muzzle,
- in front, the udder looks like a strong and tightened one, set back high and wide, with evenly developed nipples up to 6 cm long,
- milk vein long, tortuous,
- limbs neatly folded with strong and smooth hock joints,
- hooves differ in smooth edges.
When breeding Ayrshirs, advanced breeding farms pay special attention to the condition of the hooves of animals, selecting those individuals for selection with healthy limbs, which is of no small importance for preserving the longevity of a milk cow.
The suit of these animals has a reddish motley shade. In this case, the predominance of red or white is permissible. Red tint is possible in variations from light red tones to dark brown. Some Ayrshire bulls are marked with dark spots similar to black.
For a long time, the trademark of the Ayrshirs were horns - lyre-shaped, with the ends bent back.
The average weight for this breed of cows is about 0.6 tons.
Ayrshire productivity
Every farmer who has this breed will say that milk from these cows differs in excellent taste. In addition, a feature of their dairy products is the low content of somatic cells in milk. These qualities have become the reason why in many countries this dairy product is used for the production of baby food.
Average milk yields from representatives of the described breed totaled up to 8.5 thousand kg of milk with protein indicators of 3.4%, fat content - at least 4.3%.
Newborn calves of Ayrshire are born weighing 25-30 kg, are viable and easy to maintain and care. One-year-old animals weigh 0.25 - 0.3 tons. An early ripening burenka becomes suitable for insemination to reach the age of 14 months. The bulls have a good feeding performance. Animals quickly gain weight, giving out up to 55% of live meat weight for slaughter.
Ayrshire breed of cows / What is the choice based on
Ayrshire breed of cows. Ayrshire breed cows.
Ayshir breed of cattle. Live House Program
Positive qualities of the breed
Ayrshire cattle differs from other representatives of cattle in their positive qualities and has its advantages.
- Ayrshires can boast of stable milk yields, while the productivity of cattle of this breed is maintained at the proper level even with existing problems with feed, gradually reducing only the fat content of the product.
- The Ayrshire breed, similar to the Holstein breed of cows, surpasses it in the quality of milk produced, which is characterized by high basic indicators of fat content and protein content.
- The Ayrshire cow has established itself for long-term productivity. Among the representatives of cattle of this breed, numerous lifelong annual milk yields of more than 150,000 kg of dairy products were recorded.
- Representatives of the breed are able to adapt to different climates, differing in endurance and unpretentiousness to the feed used.
- Ayrshire noted excellent health, including well-built limbs and a healthy udder, they are distinguished by light calving.
- In the process of breeding, livestock breeders noted the absence of any serious defects in the field of genetics in the Ayrshire breed, which could be transmitted through the hereditary line, including from bulls carrying low-quality alleles.
The reviews of livestock breeders claim that Ayrshire cows are easy to maintain, suitable for grazing and have an active temperament. The Ayrshire characterization does not mention any downsides that breeders might note.