Features of feeding the slaughter young stock of minks with complete feed
In the domestic fur farming there is an urgent need to introduce an alternative type of feeding for young minks. The purpose of the work is to study possible of feeding commercial young minks with complete feed, consisting of animal and plant components. Methods. In a scientific and economic experiment on young sapphire minks intended for slaughter, 2 groups were formed according to the principle of analogues, 32 heads each (16 males and 16 females): I - control, II - experimental. The animals of the control group received from 2015 August 5 to September 15 a typical general economic ration in the form of a wet mash, an experimental one - a loose, complete feed (made according to a recipe developed by us, taking into account the current norms), mixed with water in a ratio of 1:2. All experimental studies were carried out using classical zootechnical, pathomorphological, histological, veterinary-sanitary and statistical methods. Results and scope. The dynamics of the live weight of the experimental minks showed that by the beginning of the main period, the males and females of the experimental group lagged behind the control animals, after switching to the main diet for slaughter, the males lag remained and the females 49 Bi olo gy a nd b iot ec hno lo gie s Agrarian Bulletin of the Urals No. 08 (211), 2021 caught up with the control animals. But the control and experimental animals did not differ in the length of the carcass. The safety of the livestock was higher in the experimental group: males - 100 %, females - 93.75 %; in control - 93.75 % and 87.5 %, respectively. According to the main productive indicator - the quality test - the skins of the control and experimental animals did not have significant differences. Thus, the development of an alternative type of feeding is quite possible, but it requires improvement in the direction of increasing the coefficient of digestibility of nutrients and adaptation of males to an uncharacteristic type of feeding. Scientific novelty. The prospects and the need to introduce an alternative type of feeding the commercial young stock of minks with full-feed compound feeds into the domestic fur farming are outlined.