This article presents the results of the evaluation of body measurements of Kazakh white-headed bulls during their lifetime. The research was carried out in the peasant farm «Bagration 2» of the Ulan district of the East Kazakhstan region.

Keywords: bull, exterior, phenotype, body measurements.

In Kazakhstan, the problem of products has always been one of the most important, especially when agricultural producers are forced to look for the most profitable solutions at product prices. In beef production, increasing the productivity of livestock, the main problem is that the amount of feed is complete and stable, which is achieved by improving the quality of feed, a favorable ratio of additives contained in it, as well as the addition of biologically active substances, mineral additives rich in micro- and macroelements. Such mixtures include zeolite concentrated in various ore foci. Later, researchers delved into the use of natural zeolite as an additive to animal feeds, including zeolite in the East Kazakhstan Ore Hearth.

The research was carried out in the farm «Bagration 2" of the Ulan district of the East Kazakhstan region. 40 heads of ten-month-old Kazakh white-headed bulls were selected for practice, from which four groups were formed based on their similarity. The 180-day main practice was preceded by a preparatory stage consisting of 30 days (Table 1).

Table 1

Practice scheme

*) RKK is a dry mixture of ration

Scientific and economic practice was carried out in the winter by keeping the bulls loose in group cages of 10 heads. The animals were in a closed room with free access to the pasture. Watering was carried out through an automatic watering machine with a heater.

Feeding of animals took place in the pasture yard. The feeding size was made in accordance with the feeding standards and based on the receipt of 800–900 g of daily products. The average daily feeding of animals that came into practice was the same. One of the features was that in addition to the number of feedings received for practice, the bulls were given zeolite obtained from the Mitrofanovsk mine in the Ulan district of the East Kazakhstan region in the amount of: 0.75 % of the dry mixture of the amount of the main feed — I experimental group, 1.0 % — II experimental and 1.25 % — III experimental.

Despite the fact that live weight gain is the most basic indicator of growth, it cannot fully contribute to the construction of the dynamics of body shape and the formation of the body depending on age [1–2]. There are several indicators for this. One of them is the study of the exterior. When assessing the phenotype of animals, great importance is attached to the shape of their body, because as they grow, the shape of the body of animals undergoes changes. The study of linear growth provides information about the development and productive level of the animal.

We cannot estimate the growth of an animal just by looking at the change in its weight, because a growing organism can increase the shape of the body without increasing weight with a temporary shortage of food. In addition, as the animal grows, the shape of the animal's body changes a lot, but this does not affect the weight in any way.

In order to control the development and growth of bulls, several studies have been conducted on changes in the exterior under the influence of age characteristics and the use of zeolite in the diet. It should be noted that if at the beginning of the practice the indicators of Bulls of all groups were the same, then during the practice they changed somewhat (Table 2).

Table 2

Measuring indicators obtained at the end of the practice from the Bulls who entered the practice (16 months), cm

At the end of the experiment, there was a significant change in all indicators compared to the initial measurements, and significant changes were more in the flat measurements than in the height measurements. During the experiment, flat dimensions increased by 40.3–34.7 %, height dimensions by 16.9–19.6 %. But the main question we were interested in was the size differences between the groups that consumed natural zeolite as a supplement.

It should be noted that although the development of animals in all groups was significantly higher, the highest development index was observed in experimental group II, which consumed zeolite in the amount of 1.00 % of dry matter. Bulls of this group are 4.4–2.1 % ahead of II group in terms of chest depth 9.1–3.4 %, in chest width 1.0–0.8 % in butt half — girth and 2.8- 1.4 % more.

The difference between the II and III groups was small, it should be noted that 0.6 in favor of the II group; 1,2; 0.2 and 1.1 %.

It should be noted that these measurements do not represent the full exterior specifications, as each is viewed individually. Therefore, in order to fully reflect body shape, we calculated body shape indices that can show full development (Table 3).

Table 3

Body shape indices of bulls at the end of the experiment (16 months), %

The high level of growth of II and III group bulls also contributed to the better formation of their body shape, showing meat forms. Thus, young cattle in these groups and bulls in control groups surpassed the index of reproduction by 1.5–1.2 % and 0.9–0.6 %, meatiness by 1.1–0.8 % and 0.6–0, 4 % overtook. All animals of the group formed a harmonious, strong body shape, and there was no significant difference between them. This means that although exterior performance is more dependent on nutrition than live weight, it is fundamentally based on breed.

Thus, the use of zeolite in the diet significantly contributes to the growth of weight and line. And the highest effect was due to zeolite mixture in the amount of 1.00 % of dry matter.

References:

1 Uskenov R. B., Akkair B. J. Kazakh`s white seeded of bulls fleshiness properties live during evaluation. — S. Seifullin named after Kazakh agrotechnical of the university Science herald. — 2022. — No. 3 (114). — Part 1. — P. 4–11.

2 Amerkhanov H. A., Kayumov F. G., Gerasimov N. P. Recommendations for the breeding of meat breeds large horned cattle. — Orenburg, — 2017. — 32 p.