Peculiarities of behavior and productivity of beef cows with calves on natural and improved pastures
In beef cattle breeding, behavior is an important criterion for evaluating the recommended technological solutions for keeping animals. An understanding of the mechanisms that determine the behavior of farm animals is necessary for the scientific justification of measures aimed at creating optimal conditions for keeping and feeding them. The study was conducted in the experimental production complex “Experimentalnoye” of Orenburg region. Three herds of beef cows with suckling calves were under observation. The number of herd is 120-125 heads each. For 155 days, from May 15 to October 20 - until the calves were weaned from their mothers, animals of all test groups were in the pasture. Cows with calves of the 1st herd (group) throughout the experiment grazed on natural pastures in spring and early summer period with a yield of green mass 12 kg/ha, and during the period of wilting of grassland (July 1 to September 1) - 3 -5 kg/ha and autumn period (from September 1 to October 20) - 5-8 kg/ha. Animals of II and III herds (groups) grazed on natural pastures and during the period of wilting of grassland II - on cultivated one-year cultivated pastures from Sudanese grass of the first and second sowing periods with a crop yield of 63-95 c/ha, III - on cultivated seeded pastures from annual barley and Sudan grasses of the first and second sowing dates. The barley yield was 56 c/ha, Sudan grass - 63-95 c/ha. From September 1 to October 20, cows with calves of groups II and III were transpoted to natural pastures with yields of 5-8 kg/ha. The use of pastures of unequal yield during the period of wilting of grassland caused differences in the diurnal rhythm of the basic elements of animal behavior. Beef cows spent from 7.2 to 7.8 hours or from 29.8 to 32.3% of daily time for obtaining feed (grazing). Moreover, nurse cows of II and III groups spent 36 and 25 minutes less time grazing because of the better grass stand, that is why they saturated faster. For young animals, it took 5.8 to 6.8 hours, or 24,1 to 28.4% of day time to graze from 5.0 to 5.8 hours, or from 20.8 to 24.0% feeding took on average up to half an hour. At the same time, the calves that were under the cow-nurse of the II and III groups spent on average one hour less time on feed consumption compared with peers of the I group. The use of improved pastures using annual seeded grasses contributed to an increase in milk yield of mother cows by 1.3-4.6%, productivity of suckling bulls by 9.0 (P≤0.05) and 9.4% (P≤0, 05) compared with animals of group I.