Ayrshire breed of cows

The Ayrshire breed of cows attracts many cattle breeders around the world, distinguished by their milk production, receiving exclusively positive feedback from livestock breeders.

Content
  1. Uniqueness of ayrshir
  2. Appearance of ayrshirs
  3. Productivity of ayrshirs
  4. Positive qualities of the breed

Айрширская порода коров

Ayrshire breed of cows

The uniqueness of ayrshirs

Aireshire dairy breed of cows was formed as an independent branch of cattle by 1814, having appeared for the first time in the Scottish county of Er. Among the ancestors of ayrshir, there are such cattle breeds as Shorthorn Alderney tevere, Jersey.

The Ayrshire cows that appeared as a result of interbreeding with local brown and motley animals were seen thanks to their beautiful exterior, which can be seen from the photo and video. With an excellent udder structure, they became excellent producers of dairy products and won the hearts of fans with excellent quality milk for cheese and butter production.

Ayrshire breed of cows is bred in countries with different climatic conditions, starting from northern Finland and ending with 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, representatives of cattle gained stamina and strong physique, the ability to quickly acclimatize, which had a direct impact on the quality of milk dispensed. 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 ayrshires are bred very rarely.

Appearance of ayrshirs

The ayrshirs have a pronounced milky body type, which can be easily seen in the photo and video:

  • proportional sizes, the body is long with a straight back and a long lumbar region, sharp and even shoulders and deep chest ,
  • a straight neck smoothly goes proportionally a folded head with a wide muzzle,
  • in front the udder looks like a strong and taut one, set back high and wide, with evenly developed nipples up to 6 cm long,
  • milk vein is long, winding,
  • limbs neatly folded with strong and smooth hocks,
  • the hooves are distinguished by smooth edges.

Advanced breeding farms when breeding ayrshir special attention give the state of the hooves of animals, selecting for breeding those individuals who have healthy limbs, which is of no small importance to preserve the longevity of a dairy 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 visiting card of the ayrshirs was lyre-shaped horns with 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 levels 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 yield from representatives of the described breed totaled up to 8.5 thousand kg of milk with a protein 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. Bulls have a good feeding characteristic. Animals quickly gain weight, giving up to 55% of live meat weight for slaughter.

Positive qualities of the breed

Ayrshire cattle differs from other representatives of cattle in their positive qualities and has its advantages.

  • Ayrshires boast stable milk yields, while the productivity of this breed’s cattle is maintained at the proper level even with existing feed problems, gradually reducing only the fat content of the product.
  • The Ayrshire cow, 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 with 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 their endurance and unpretentiousness to the consumed feed.
  • Ayrshirs noted excellent health, including well-built limbs and a healthy udder, they are characterized by light calving.
  • During the breeding process, livestock breeders noted the absence of any serious defects in the Ayrshire breed areas of genetics that could be transmitted through the hereditary line, including from manufacturing bulls carrying low-quality alleles.

The reviews of livestock breeders claim that Ayrshire cows are easy to maintain, they are suitable for grazing and have an active temperament. The characteristic of airshirs does not mention cons that breeders could note.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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