HEREFORD CATTLE breeding for improved MEET PRODUCTIVITY
The cattle herd at the breeding farm of PJSC "Chelyabinsk Poultry Farm" was studied. The problems of improvement in assessment methods, selection and use of high value bulls of Hereford cattle were discussed. Typing of the breeding steer exterior towards a larger format led to the improvement of productive qualities. Formation of the model group allowed defining animals of the desired type. The selection criteria: body weight + height at hips allowed increasing the heaviness of animals. The genotype of a stud bull has a large selection importance not only for the herd, but also for its breed as a whole. The targeted standard is an elite-record class by live weight for new types of cattle and is designed to perform not only a solving but also a guiding role for the future. Selecting breeding animals, one must be sure that those animals have high genetic superiority, which will be inherited by the next generation. That criterion is the index of relative body weight (IRBW) combines weight qualities of a beef stud bull’s offspring at 15 and 18 months of age. At the same time low or high relative weight qualities of the young stock will be assessed according to their values from 100%. An artificial selection vector is directed against animals with a less live weight than that the class elite-record level. The difference between the average trait values at the fixed ages shows particular differences of a stud bull from the rest of the herd and determines the accuracy of the real existence of different genotypes. The forecast of the expected breeding progress in meat productivity of the herd is determined by the formula. The index (IRBW) of 105% or more indicates high weight qualities of the studied group of animals in improving of the breeding herd based on these breeding grounds.