Our lands have such beautiful meadows and pastures, our climate is mild, and all this means that there are no contraindications for growing beef cattle.
This industry brings no small profit to their owners.
In order to grow meat cows do not need big expenses.
There are many varieties of beef cattle, but in this article we will tell about the Shorthorn breed of cows.
You will learn about the distinctive features of the breed, as well as what qualities the breed has.
Description of Shorthorn Cattle
This breed of cows belongs to almost the oldest very productive breeds of our planet. Homeland cattle is England. Its origin came from the Tivat cattle, which were grown near the Tisza River in York and Durga counties, also called Durgam cattle in a different way.
This breed of cows was used in two directions, such as dairy and meat. A little later, Dutch cattle began to be brought to these lands.
This name "shorthorns" received because of the small horns. In the works of PN Kuleshov, one can read about what the Dutch cattle in England was called shorthorn or short-legged.
The Shorthorn breed was created as a result of the production of such beautiful breeds, and especially the manufacturing bulls such as Gubbak, Favorite, Comet and many others.
In order to preserve all the best productive characteristics in the herds of this breed of cows, they used close inbreeding on one of the best animals and got good results. From the words of American scientists one can hear that the short-horn breed was very strongly fed both in its territory and in the United States of America. For the production of high meat productivity, sires were raised. Also known is the fact that in the herd of this breed, occasionally sucking pedigree calves, and especially small gobies, were used under two cows.
External distinguishing factors Shorthorn breed:
- Since this breed belongs to the meat type, it is naturally distinguished by the structure of the body, they are well-built meat producing animals. The length of the whole body is up to 155 centimeters, the height at the withers is up to 132 centimeters.
- The head of these animals is small, dry, proportionally folded, with a small face, the horns of the breed are small. The neck of the Shorthorn breed is not long, the muscles on it are very developed.
- The chest is very broad about forty two centimeters, deep about seventy centimeters. Breast volume is large and is two hundred centimeters. Fench far protruding. Loin and back, straight and muscular. Torso in the form of a wide barrel, with horizontal ribs in relation to the spine.
The back of the torso is very well developed, the musculature in this part is also well developed. The sacrum, sciatic tubercles, and the hip portion also have good musculature. Limbs are not long, set straight.
- Animals have soft and loose skin that is covered in hair.
- Udder burenok average. For an average of twelve months, they give about 300 kilograms of milk. Two calves can be raised on the suction, which is very good.
- The color of the shorthorns may be different: about 50 percent prevails in red, about three percent in white, about 27 percent in red and variegated, and about 20 percent in royal color. Special attention was never given to the coloring of the shorthorns; all attention was paid to the constitution and the productivity of the breed.
What kind positive characteristics possesses the Shorthorn breed, we list below:
- Firstly, the breed is highly productive not only in obtaining meat, but also in milk.
- Secondly, the Shorthorns are precocious.
- Thirdly, the meat is characterized by high taste.
- Fourthly, shorthorns are very common around the world.
- Fifthly, the slaughter mass is quite high.
- Sixth, a big breed is a plus.
Disadvantages This breed are the following indicators:
- Low fertility of cows.
- The Shorthorn breed is very demanding for living and nutrition.
- Also, cattle of this breed is subject to various diseases.
It is also interesting to read about the choice of cow.
What features does the Shorthorn breed have?
The features of shorthorns include high precocity, fairly rapid growth, the ability of cattle to fatten at a young age, as well as high productivity.
A feature of the cows of this breed are good maternal qualities.
A characteristic distinctive factor of this breed are their short horns.
Farmers who grow shorthorns speak very well of them, saying that animals are very docile and docile.
When crossed with other breeds, the Shorthorns convey such qualities as ease of calving, peaceful behavior, rapid growth, as well as average weight in adulthood. At the moment, the Shorthorn breed of cows is not in such great demand as before.
Nowadays, the Shorthorn breed is bred clean and the breed used for crossing, as a result of which they are waiting for the improvement of meat quality of domestic cows.
What are the productivity indicators of the shorthorn breed?
For this breed, both meat and dairy are peculiar very high productivity.
In countries such as the United States, England and Canada, the Shorthorn breed of meat type is the most widely bred.
The weight of one cow is up to 550 kilograms, the mass of one bull is about 900 kilograms. Slaughter weight in fed cattle is about 70 percent, and some can reach up to 82 percent.
In our country, the Shorthorn breed is also very valued and gives high productivity. The mass of a new-born calf is about thirty kilograms, an adult cow is up to 600 kilograms, and the mass of manufacturing bulls can reach one ton, and in special cases even 1,270 kilograms.
The mass of a bull at the age of one and a half years is about 600 kilograms, the slaughter weight is about 60 percent. The quality of meat products of this cattle is very high. The meat is soft-fiber, with evenly spaced layers of fat.
Breed shorthorns in the meat and dairy direction, also gives good performance. The average milk yield from one cow per year is about 2500 kilograms of milk, fat content whom makes up 3.6 - 3.9 percent. There are cows record holders who can give up to 6000 kilograms of milk per year.
Shorthorn breed meat direction bred almost all over the world. On the basis of this breed, about 50 different breeds of cattle were bred. For example, in the same England five breeds were created, in the USA six breeds, in Russia three breeds.
But in recent years, the Shorthorn breed has begun to lose its popularity significantly. Perhaps this was due to the fact that with this breed of livestock was carried out a little work.
The Shorthorn breed is a magnificent cattle. It can be compared with the old tree, which needs to be rejuvenated a little, create all the necessary conditions for future development and then again this breed will come to life.
