Content
At the beginning of the 19th century, Count Orlov's laurels haunted many large landowners. Most of them rushed to buy livestock and horses, hoping to also breed a new breed and become famous. But without knowledge, natural flair and a systematic approach, no one has achieved success. In addition to the landowner Boris Makarovich Bestuzhev, who lived in the village of Repyevka in the Syzran district. Bestuzhev possessed the same talents as Count Orlov, providing his neighbors with high-quality horses from his stable. But he did not begin to tread the same track as Orlov, but began breeding a new breed of cattle: his "own" Bestuzhev cow. And the landowner, like Count Orlov, really managed to leave his mark on history.
The origin of the Bestuzhev breed of cows
At the end of the 18th century Bestuzhev brought meat Shorthorns, Dutch dairy cattle and simmental breed meat and dairy products. By crossing the cattle discharged from abroad with local cattle and carefully selecting the resulting hybrids in terms of productivity, Bestuzhev obtained a large, unpretentious and disease-resistant new breed of cattle.
This policy allowed the landowner, not possessing Orlov's huge fortune, nevertheless to breed his own breed. Taking into account the peasant livestock, the Bestuzhev breeding herd in terms of the number of heads could even be larger than the Oryol herds.
The bred breed quickly gained popularity in the Middle Volga region. Shortly before the revolution, in 1910, the breeding stock from Bestuzhev was purchased by the provincial zemstvo for breeding at its own experimental stations.
Description of the bestuzhevskaya breed of cows
Still, serious work with the breed began in 1918 after the organization of breeding farms in the Middle Volga region. In 1928, the first volume of the State Tribal Book was published. The main livestock of the Bestuzhev breed of cows is still concentrated in the Middle Volga region and in 1990 numbered almost 1 million individuals.
The population of Bestuzhev cows is still not uniform. The main type of the Bestuzhev breed is dairy and meat. There are also dairy and meat-and-milk animals.
The cattle are large in size and strong in constitution. Height at withers 130 - 135 cm, oblique length 154 - 159 cm. Stretch index 118. Metacarpus circumference 20 cm. Bone index 15. Chest circumference 194.
The head is of medium size, in proportion to the body. Differs in lightness and dryness. The front part is elongated, the ganaches are wide, the forehead is narrow. The horns are white.
The photo clearly shows the shape of the head of the Bestuzhev cow.
The neck is of medium length and thickness. The skin on the neck is folded. The chest is deep with prominent dewlap.
The topline is uneven. The withers are low, almost merging with the back. The back and loin are straight and wide. The sacrum is raised. The croup is long and straight. The legs are short and well set. The udder is round, medium in size. The lobes are evenly developed. The nipples are cylindrical.
The disadvantages of the exterior include the rare laxness.
Thanks to the requirements of the landowner, today the Bestuzhev breed of cows has only a red color, in which only small white marks are allowed. Shades of color range from light red to brown (cherry).
Productive characteristics of the Bestuzhevskaya breed of cows
The meat characteristics of the Bestuzhevsky cattle are quite high. The live weight of animals varies greatly in different sources. Sometimes it is indicated that the weight of an adult cow can reach 800 kg, and a bull up to 1200 kg. But, most likely, these are crossbred cattle. The data in the GPC indicate a significantly lower weight: a cow 480 - 560, the largest individuals 710 kg; bulls 790 - 950, maximum 1000 kg. With such a relatively low weight, Bestuzhev calves are born large: 30 - 34 kg. With abundant feeding, the average daily weight gain of calves is 700 - 850 g. In six months, calves weigh 155 - 180 kg. By the age of one year, gobies reach a weight of 500 kg. From a well-fed bull, the slaughter yield of meat is 58 - 60%. The average is 54 - 59%.
Milk productivity is not as high as we would like, and work in this direction still needs to be continued. In elite breeding herds, the average milk yield is 4.3 tons per year with a fat content of 4%. In a commercial herd, the average productivity is 3 tons per year with a fat content of 3.8 - 4%. With full-fledged feeding in a breeding plant in the Kuibyshev region, it was possible to get an average of 5.5 tons of milk from cows. The best cows gave 7 tons. The fat content of milk ranged from 3.8%. The record-holders gave more than 10 tons of milk per lactation. In a sperm bank, you can buy doses of semen from bulls whose mothers had a productivity of 5 - 8 tons of milk with a fat content of 4 - 5.2%.
Advantages of the Bestuzhevskaya breed of cows
For Russian livestock breeding, the Bestuzhev breed of cows is valuable for its unpretentiousness and resistance to diseases, especially leukemia and tuberculosis. The breed also lacks congenital anomalies such as "goat" udder, X-shaped set of legs or markings. The advantage of the breed is its good adaptability to the conditions of the Middle Volga region and the ability to easily gain weight.
Reviews of the owners of the Bestuzhevskaya breed of cows
Conclusion
As before the revolution, the Bestuzhev breed of cows is ideal for keeping on private farmsteads of rural residents. The small amount of milk in comparison with industrial breeds of cows is compensated by its high fat content. In addition, every year you can get a calf from a cow, which by autumn on free grass will gain about 200 kg of live weight. That is, for the winter there will be at least 100 kg of free beef.
