Content
Due to the increased demand for dairy products in both Russian capitals in the 19th century, the cheese-making and butter-making industries began to flourish in the Yaroslavl province. Convenient communications between Yaroslavl, Moscow and St. Petersburg also contributed to successful sales. But the production of cheeses and butter requires large amounts of milk. At that time, Yaroslavl villages could not provide industrialists with the necessary volumes of raw materials.
In an attempt to obtain the milk necessary for the business, dairy partnerships were created, which initially selected the individuals they needed from the existing herd of northern Great Russian cows. Until it was possible to take into account productivity, cows were selected by color. Bulls were selected based on their exterior. Much later, Yaroslavl cattle began to be selected based on 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 neighboring provinces. After the revolution, peasant breeding nurseries were created, where cow owners could bring their animals for mating with a purebred bull, and large partnerships engaged in breeding work.
At the end of the 30s, they tried to crossbreed Yaroslavkas with East Frisian bulls.But such crossing led to the loss of the main feature of milk from Yaroslavl cows: fat content. The quality of milk has dropped sharply. In the 80s, Yaroslavl cows were again crossed with Holstein cattle to increase milk yield. As a result, the so-called Mikhailovsky type of Yaroslavl breed arose.
Today, the Yaroslavl, which is of selective importance, is being replaced by more milk-producing foreign breeds, and its numbers are declining. 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 Yaroslavl has a dry, angular body with well-developed bones. The height of cows is from 125 to 127 cm, the oblique length is from 152 to 155 cm. That is, the elongation index for cows of the Yaroslavl breed is 121.6 - 122. The head is dry, graceful, light. The front 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. The legs are thin and short. Pastern girth 17–18 cm. Boning index 13.6–14. The udder is medium-sized, cup-shaped.
A drooping or roof-shaped croup is an exterior fault.
The color of cows of the Yaroslavl breed is mainly black with a white muzzle.But the recessive red color is very rare. If the feather on the head is an obligatory sign of the Yaroslavl, then the remaining markings are desirable, but not necessary. Often, redlings may have dark “spectacles” around the eyes and feathering on the belly, legs and tip of the tail.
Productive characteristics of the Yaroslavl breed of cows
The weight of adult yellowtails is small: 350 – 450 kg. Bulls, having decent muscle mass, can weigh twice as much as queens. 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 muscle.
Based on their human orientation, only cows were selected from cattle in order to be able to receive milk from them. Few people were interested in the character of the bulls that were used for meat. Therefore, in almost all breeds of cattle, while the cows have a calm disposition, the bulls are often angry and aggressive. They perceive scratching their forehead as an invitation to fight.
Calves are born weighing 25 – 30 kg. The meat quality of Yaroslavkas is worse than that of black and white livestock, but bull calves quickly fatten, reaching a weight of 350 kg by the age of one and a half years. The slaughter yield of meat from the carcass of a 1.5-year-old calf is 52 – 57%. With a proper diet during the fattening period, meat yield can reach 60%. The tender, lean meat of Yaroslavl bulls has a good taste.
Milk productivity during the lactation period can reach 5000 liters. The milk has a high taste and contains 4% fat.
When the diet improves, cows immediately respond by increasing their milk yield.True, there is also a flip side to the coin: if you try to feed low-quality hay or concentrates to the rednecks, the cows will immediately “repay” with a decrease in productivity.
Among the advantages of the breed, in addition to the taste qualities of products obtained from livestock, one can note resistance to diseases, including leukemia.
On a note! It is better to buy a purebred Yaroslavl cow from specialized breeding farms.
Reviews from owners of the Yaroslavl breed of cows
Conclusion
Yaroslavl cattle are well suited for homestead farming. The small size of the cow and the good slaughter yield of meat from the bull make this breed profitable for private ownership. The yaroslavka more than pays for its demands on the nutritional value of feed with high-quality milk, the fat content of which is one of the highest.
