If you look at the map, you can see a country, 2/3 of the territory of which is desert. This is Israel. Only one-fifth of all land has been allotted for cultivation, of which almost half is under artificial irrigation. And in such "unbearable" conditions, the average annual milk yield per cow is about twelve thousand liters. And such results have been achieved despite the fact that almost all grain feed for cows has to be imported in Israel. Israeli missionary agronomists share their experience in increasing milk yield.

If we compare and analyze the technological, economic, as well as innovative aspects used by Israeli farmers in the production of milk, then it should be noted that Israel in this respect differs significantly from many countries, including Ukraine, which, immersed in greenery and raw materials, so far behind this small state. The differences lie in the systematic and comprehensive approach of Israeli officials to solving emerging problems in this industry, in a sincere desire to feed high-quality products, and even own production- this is the main goal of the entire agricultural industry in Israel, and when such high results are achieved, the Jews rejoice at them, like children, and are proud. That is precisely why Israel took a different path, different from the approaches of other countries, they did not build cowsheds there, but began to breed new breeds of cattle genetically adapted to the hot climate and dry summer, that is, from the genetic selection of the herd.

Israel is a capitalist state, everything in it is under the control of officials, so-called "milk" quotas have been introduced - Israeli farmers are obliged to produce exactly as much as is required, that is, as much as Israelis can consume. The interests of farmers are also taken into account, the state will never allow them to be left without profit, therefore milk prices are set by the Milk Production Council. The Israeli state controls prices for all dairy products: kefir, drinking milk, sour cream, yogurt, etc. Last year it was adopted as an address.

When exchanging experience with Israeli farmers, the constancy of high milk yields is striking in the first place. For example, if we compare farms located in the north of the country, where the climate and conditions are more benign, and farms located in the south, the results obtained differ little, and if there are discrepancies, they are insignificant. How to explain such a phenomenon?

The specialists of the Afimilk company kindly agreed to help us in this matter. They cited several reasons for achieving this result:

- the use of a herd of the Holstein breed, the cows of which are distinguished by high endurance - the development of Israeli genetic scientists;

- cowsheds equipped with special "air conditioners" and "showers", which allows you to maintain a temperature ten degrees lower than on the street;

- proper conditions of keeping and a specially developed diet containing more than twenty components, vitamins and microelements necessary for the normal life of cattle;

– high professionalism of farmers.

Israeli horned beauties on the world catwalks have no equal, the daily norm for an ordinary cow is 40-45 liters! If we recall the record holders, their annual milk yields reach exorbitant figures - up to twenty thousand liters. At the moment, the livestock in Israel is about one hundred and twenty heads of cattle. If for a moment we imagine that it doubles, then Israel could feed all neighboring states with its dairy products.

But, unfortunately, this is not possible, because, as mentioned above, milk production is driven by the means of establishing a quota in Israel within a certain framework, that is, it is clearly dosed. It is possible to produce in Israel exactly as much as is consumed by the Israeli population, there should not be a surplus. Here are some figures: in 1997 the quota was one million liters of milk, today it is 1.3 million liters of milk. As for export, it is not profitable for the Israelis, the reason is that the consumption of dairy products by neighboring states is limited.

The exception was 2008, when there was a sharp rise in prices for raw milk. The reason for this jump was both external and internal factors, namely at this time there was an increase in demand for milk among the Chinese population, massive fires in Australia, an increase in prices on the world market for roughage ... - and this is not full list that has driven the rise in milk prices around the world. In Israel, there was also an increase in prices for dairy products, which were always more expensive by about 10% than in neighboring countries. At this time, it was allowed to produce milk without restrictions - the result of a 10% increase in production.

Another secret to the stability of milk production is not to increase the number of livestock, but to increase the productivity of cows. Since 1999, the average annual milk yield per cow in Israel has been ten thousand liters of milk.

It is rather difficult to answer the question which of the above forms of management in Israel is dominant, since the state in Israel encourages all forms, develops and implements various government programs, provided subsidies, banks - loans at a rather low interest rate - up to a maximum of 5% per annum - all this is designed to stimulate the construction of new farms and the development of this industry in the country.

Today, there are about 951 farms in Israel, including 773 family farms, 163 cooperatives, and 15 owned and operated agricultural schools. If you visit all of them, then there is no favor on the part of the authorities for this or that type of management - they are all equal, even in milk yield! There is only one small difference - on large farms there are three times milking, and on family-type farms - two. Although it is worth noting that the more often milking occurs, the more milk yields are observed - an average of 15%.

All farms, regardless of the form of management, are fully computerized. By using modern equipment on farms, you can do all sorts of operations - weigh an animal, prescribe (increase or decrease) its diet, read information about milk yields from milking machines, measure the quality of dairy products, etc. Special databases have also been developed in Israel, where the entire “biography” of the existing Israeli livestock of cattle.

At least twice a week, at least farms Israel carried out a veterinary round. Doctors monitor the health of the livestock, control the conditions of cows, conduct all kinds of planned and unscheduled clinical studies, and, if necessary, provide other services, including treatment. The Veterinary Clinical Service in Israel operates as a non-profit institution. As you can see, in Israel, all services revolve around farmers - and this is the main secret of achieving such high results!

Dairy cattle breeding in Israel, thanks to the milk production system used, is not only cost-effective, but also environmentally friendly.

Israel is located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea. It is characterized by cool, rainy winters (November to March) and dry, hot, rainless summers (June to October). In summer, the coastal regions are hot (even at night) with high relative humidity (average daytime temperature is 30°C and relative humidity between 50 and 90%), the inland valleys and desert in the south are hot and dry (average temperature during the day is 40°C and relative humidity is between 20 and 40%).

The dairy cattle population in Israel has about 120,000 Israeli Holstein cows on about 900 dairy farms. For the most part, these farms are located along the coast and in the hot valleys. According to the Israeli Stud Book (IPK), which includes about 90% of all dairy cattle in Israel, in 2010 the average milk yield (with a fat content of 3.7% and a protein content of 3.2%) per cow was 11,800 kg per cow. year.

Dairy farmers in Israel are well organized and supported by specialized agencies affiliated with the ministry. Agriculture, universities, dairies, and cooperatives providing veterinary care ("HACHAKLAIT") and artificial insemination services ("SION"). The Israel Dairy Association (ICBA) owns a local IPC service based on a stream of information automatically fed from computerized milking equipment. Thanks to this online information, which is processed by the IQC Center, as well as the specialized Dairy Herd Management (“NOA”) program, Israeli dairy farmers are able to make quick decisions and manage their farms efficiently.

The concept of production in Israel is based on the intensification of production on relatively large dairy farms. The reason for this is the conviction that in the specific conditions of Israel, the most economically feasible is the desire to achieve maximum milk yield per cow. Climatic restrictions are forcing dairy farm owners to develop and implement new technological solutions and non-standard methods of keeping to ensure high milk yields in hot and humid summer weather.

Virtually all dairy herds in Israel use electronically controlled milking equipment, most of which are manufactured by two Israeli companies. Among the indicators coming from the milking machines are milk yield per cow and data on the quality of each cow's milk.

Israeli herds show relatively satisfactory results in terms of reproduction, even despite the difficult climatic conditions of the summer period, the specific feeding system, the use of a relatively small proportion of forage and the extremely high productivity of cows. Table 1 shows the reproductive characteristics for heifers, first heifers and mature cows for 1998-2010 published by the Israel Dairy Association. These data show that the average heifer conception rate was 62%.

Changes in the conception rates of heifers, first-calf heifers and adult cows in Israel from 1998 to 2010

In 2010, about 20% of heifers were first inseminated before the age of 13 months, and the rates of conception after the first insemination (65%) do not differ from those whose first insemination occurred later. Only 5% of inseminated heifers were inseminated over 18 months of age. In 20% of pregnant heifers, conception occurred before the age of 13 months, in 75% - before 15 months, and only in 7% of heifers - after reaching the age of 18 months.

Over the past three decades, several studies have been carried out by Israeli scientists, the purpose of which was to develop effective system cooling, which will allow you to get high milk yields and relatively good fertility in the hot season. The resulting cow cooling technologies were immediately adopted by Israeli farmers. Widespread implementation and the use of these systems by farmers was facilitated by the benefits provided by the special milk pricing system. Obtaining positive results from the use of a cooling system requires it correct installation and operation.

The principle of operation of cooling systems widely used in Israel is to frequently moisten the cows, followed by blowing air over them. Such systems were developed and implemented for the first time in Israel through a collaboration between the Department of Animal Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Agricultural Extension and Implementation Service of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture. This system was first described over 20 years ago. Cooling the cows 5 times a day for 30 minutes allowed cows producing 25-30 kg of milk per day to keep their body temperature below 39.0 ° C all day during the typical Israeli summer heat.

Studies were carried out on the indicators of fertilization after the first and subsequent inseminations in cows that were cooled according to the same method, but already 7 times a day. Thanks to intensive cooling, cows producing 30 kg of milk per day maintained normal body temperature (below 39.0°C) around the clock throughout the summer period. At the same time, in cows that were not subjected to cooling, for most of the day the body temperature was increased (above 39.5°C), to normal (below 39.0°C) it decreased only for a few hours (at night). Fertilization rates in cows subjected to intensive cooling were significantly higher than those that were not subjected to it: 59% vs. 17 and 57% vs. 17 after the first and all subsequent inseminations, respectively. The pregnancy indices of these groups, calculated for 90, 120 and 150 days after calving, also differed significantly: 44, 59 and 73% versus 5, 11 and 11%, respectively, for cows that were and were not exposed to cooling. The values ​​of fertilization rates and pregnancy indices obtained during the experiment in cows subjected to intensive cooling were similar to the values ​​obtained on private dairy farms in Israel in the winter of the same year.

Another study, conducted at the same time by the same people, showed that intensive cooling of cows in the summer from two days before artificial insemination to the eighth day after it did not increase insemination rates: 31 and 36%, respectively, for cows that were exposed to artificial insemination. and were not refrigerated. The results obtained in the course of these experiments lead to the conclusion that intensive cooling of cows with a daily milk yield of about 30 kg allows them to maintain normal body temperature around the clock throughout the summer period, which makes it possible to obtain fertilization rates identical to those in winter in summer. Intensive cooling of cows for a short period of time close to the time of insemination does not give the same results - perhaps due to stress caused by a sharp temperature difference before and after this short period. Perhaps, in order to maintain the reproductive potential of cows in the conditions of the Israeli summer, intensive cooling and normal body temperature are required throughout the summer period, the entire reproductive cycle (from the initial maturation of the follicle to the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus).

Behind last years Several studies have been carried out in cooperation with the Israel Dairy Association. Their goal was to evaluate the impact of the introduction of cooling systems on private farms located in different regions of the country on the reproductive characteristics and productivity of cows with high milk yields in the subtropical climate of Israel.

The first study examined the effect of cooling intensity on the performance and reproductive performance of cows. This large-scale study was carried out over four years (from 1998 to 2001), it involved 14 farms from the coastal regions of the country, each of which had an average of about 300 cows. The farms were divided into three groups according to the intensity of cooling during the summer period. Cows of the 1st group (six farms, intensive cooling) were cooled in the rest and feeding area 10 times (with a total duration of 7.5 hours) per day. Each cooling period included spraying (0.5 min.) and fan cooling (4.5 min.) cycles. Cows of the 2nd group (three farms, moderate cooling) were cooled only in the rest area 6 times (total duration 4.5 hours) per day. Group 3 cows (five farms, no chilling) were not chilled at all. Milk yield (kg/day) and fertility rates were calculated for summer (July to September) and winter (December to February) periods. An analysis was made of 125,000 milk records (more than five lactation records from each cow) and 17,000 inseminations. The 4-year average minimum/maximum daily temperatures (°C) were 8.4/19.3 and 22.0/31.8 respectively for winter and summer periods. The time of year and the method of cooling also had a significant influence (P<0,001).

Influence of the intensity of cooling of cows by a combination of humidification and blowing on their reproductive characteristics and productivity

The ratio between the average daily milk yield in summer and winter was 98.5; 96.2 and 93.4% for first-calf heifers, and for adult cows - 98.5; 96.1 and 90.7%, respectively, with intensive, moderate and no cooling. Fertilization rates in first-calf heifers amounted to 55.8; 53.5 and 53.9% in winter and 40.4; 34.0 and 14.6% in summer, respectively, with intense, moderate and no cooling (P<0,01). Показатели оплодотворения у взрослых коров в тех же группах составили соответственно 46,6; 45,8 и 43,5% зимой и 33,8; 34,5 и 16,7% летом (P<0,01). Результаты этого исследования приведены в таблице 2. Они показывают, что интенсивное охлаждение коров в летний период может вполовину уменьшить сезонные различия в производительности молочных коров.

Thus, farmers should understand that cooling does not deprive the cows of the necessary rest, but, on the contrary, improves their general condition, which is important in the hot summer season.

Recently, other factors associated with milk production have come into play, among them the impact on the environment. In the future, dairy farms will be judged not only in terms of economic efficiency, but also in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced and therefore contributing to global warming. New data has emerged showing that Israeli high-yielding cows have a clear advantage over their competitors from other parts of the world in this indicator. This advantage is also due to the method of milk production in Israel and the high milk yields of the cows, partly due to their cooling in the summer. The daily amount of methane produced per cow and per liter of milk from Israeli cows producing 11,500 kg of milk per year is 40% of that of low-yielding New Zealand cows and 80% of Western European cows. A balance of greenhouse gas emissions was also calculated for the application of cow cooling techniques on dairy farms in Israel. It is expected that these data can also be used in the dairy industry in many other countries.

It can be concluded that in Israel, dairy cattle breeding, due to the milk production system used, is not only cost-effective, but also environmentally friendly.

I. Flamenbaum, Professor, Agro-Alecon LTD, Israel

Israeli cows are world record holders for milk yield. Moreover, it is not only about quantity, but also about quality. Our cows are world leaders in milk fat content and protein specific gravity.

Shmil - record holder for milk yield

On the eve of the Shavuot holiday, the Israeli portal News1 published an article about the Israeli livestock industry and about the cow - the absolute world record holder for milk yield. Her name is Shmil, she lives and works in Kibbutz Or HaNer and gives 17,680 liters of milk a year. At the same time, the fat content of the milk of this cow is 4.01%, and the protein content is 3.44%.

As for the average Israeli cow, her milk production is about 11,343 liters per year (about 11,700 kilograms) and this is more than the average Dutch or American cow, which until now were considered the most productive cows in the world. It is worth noting that the Israeli cows outperformed the Dutch despite the fact that the latter live in more favorable climatic conditions for high milk yields. The annual milk yield of an average Dutch cow is about 90% of that of an Israeli, said Yaakov Bahar, CEO of the Israel Animal Breeders Association.

More fat and protein!

He also noted that compared to the beginning of the 90s, the quality of milk has significantly increased: it has 10% more protein and 25% more fat - and all this against the backdrop of increasing milk yield per head of cattle. He attributes this to the high quality of life and health of Israeli cows.

A few more facts about the life of a cow in our country. The largest dairy farm in Israel is Refet HaEmek, located in the fertile Jezreel Valley.

This barn brought together under one roof the cows of three Israeli agricultural villages - Kibbutzim Yifat, Merhavia and Megido. The total number of inhabitants of the barn is 1106 head of adult cattle and about nine hundred more calves.

Every day this farm produces about 35 thousand liters of milk, which is 12 million 700 thousand liters per year. 64 special stalls are equipped for milking cows, and each cow is milked here three times a day: early in the morning, at noon and in the evening.

Each cow on this farm produces an average of 13.151 liters of milk per year, with fat and protein content of 3.73% and 3.27% respectively.

The highest milk yields of 13,690 liters per head of cattle were recorded at another farm, Kibbutz Saad in the south of the country. The average fat content of milk in this barn is 3.74%, and the amount of protein is 3.45%.

The absolute record holder for milk yield during the entire cow's life was recognized as a cow named Yokel from the same kibbutz, which gave the people of Israel 161.274 liters of this valuable drink.

Long-lived cow a worthy old age!

And finally, another curious fact: the title of the oldest cow in the country of Israel belongs to the inhabitant of Kibbutz Kfar Masaryk named Hanele. She is already almost 27 years old, which by cow standards is quite a respectable age. It should be noted that Hanele receives excellent care and nutrition and can count on a dignified old age in gratitude for the work of her whole life.

Photos courtesy of Refet HaEmek

You may be surprised that I, a purely urban person, decided to write about cows.
The fact is that when I was able to easily move around Israel, on one of the excursions we visited a livestock farm.
She made an indelible impression on us.
We took several photos. Only one of them has survived.
It recently caught my eye.

Individual house for a newborn calf.

Well, then it’s clear: a search on the net and, as a result, this post.
And then I faced a choice: there is so much material, and it is so interesting that it is not clear which one to show. A lot is hard to read. Few - it will turn out schematically.
I thought and thought and decided to make two posts. Those who are interested will read it. Well, who doesn't...
To begin with, I am almost completely placing the article by Peter Lukimson

"ABOUT THE POOR COW
SAY A WORD"

As is well known, our country has long and firmly occupied a leading position in the world in terms of the efficiency of dairy farming.
Suffice it to say that the average European cow produces 3000 liters of milk per year, while the Israeli - 12 thousand. The difference, as you can see, is fantastic.
But the matter is not limited to the difference in the numbers of milk yields.
The milk of Israeli cows is absolutely better in all respects than European and American milk. However, do you know at what cost these high quality milk and record milk yields are achieved?
I.
The last question to the author of these lines was asked recently on Tel Aviv's Dizengoff street by a handsome young man who introduced himself as an activist of the Society for the Protection of Animals.
The action in defense of the long-suffering Israeli cows was in full swing, and the activists of the aforementioned Society were spinning on the street, handing out leaflets to citizens and urging them to sign a certain appeal.

So do you know how Israeli cows are used to make record holders? - asked this young man and seeing how I shook my head, perked up and began to eliminate my illiteracy in the field of agriculture.
“As you understand, in order for a cow to give milk at all, she must become pregnant and give birth to a calf,” he began ...
- Well, yes, but in order for her to give birth to a calf, she needs to be covered. With us, people, everything happens according to the same logic ... - I tried to joke, but my interlocutor, it seems, was by no means inclined to jokes.
- Do you know, - he continued menacingly, - that Israeli cows have long been fertilized exclusively by artificial insemination?!
And it is clear that this method of fertilization does not bring natural satisfaction to the animal and causes him additional suffering.
And so that the cow gives milk constantly, immediately after calving, she is fertilized again!
I don't know why, but I suddenly felt guilty about the constantly impregnated Israeli cows.
"I'm sorry..." I muttered.
- But that's not all! - the voice of my interlocutor was gaining momentum. - From our Israeli cows, calves are taken away as soon as they are born, not even allowing them to be near their mother for several hours, in no case allowing them to touch the mother's udder!
What would you say if your son was taken away from your wife immediately after birth, without letting him touch his mother's chest?!
- God forbid! I was horrified.
- But let's move on! Did you know that Israeli cows continue to be branded like of old, causing them incredible suffering?
And after they are branded, they cut off the horns that were given to them by Mother Nature!
And this deprivation also brings wild pain and incredible suffering to the animal...
Finally, do you know that if in Europe and Asia cows are walked on pastures for at least six months of the year, then in our country she is forced to spend her whole life in a dirty, smelly barn, without movement, where she, in fact, turned into a machine for the production of milk and meat.
And now we come to the most important thing: how does Israel achieve such incredibly high milk yields?!
The fact is that our kibbutzim, farms and dairy plants are investing heavily in genetic research aimed at increasing the size of the cow's udder.
As a result, the udder of our cows reaches a truly monstrous size and makes them look like some kind of alien monsters.
And genetic research goes on and on...
But since they are aimed solely at increasing the size of the udder, and the rest of the cow's body remains the same, Israeli cows simply cannot support their own weight.
As a result, the average life expectancy of a cow in our country has almost halved: if before it was twenty-odd years, now it is only ten or twelve. As soon as the cow stops producing less milk, she is sent to the slaughterhouse. Do you think this is humane?!
A little more - and I would have signed this same appeal for an end to bullying poor cows.
But then, remembering how much I love a good beef steak and dairy products, I decided to refrain from such a radical step.
Nevertheless, I confess that after that meeting, all these products hardly climbed into my throat, and tasting the cheese bought at the market, I felt that I was about to burst into tears.

II.
Fortunately, it just so happened that a couple of weeks after meeting a handsome young man on Dizengoff Street, I ended up a few dozen kilometers from Tel Aviv in an ordinary Israeli kibbutz.
And there I was able to figure out on the spot how righteous the anger of the home-grown defenders of our smaller brothers is.
I'll start with the barn.
It turned out to be by no means "dirty and smelly", as the indignant young man told about it, apparently, he had never seen an Israeli cowshed.
An excellent waste disposal and cleaning system, the caring hands of Gad Mintzer, who oversees this, led to the fact that both the barn and its "guests" looked very well-groomed.
The smell of manure was quite mild, and there were almost no flies that, it seems, should flock to him.
But it was June outside, and the Israeli heat was already making itself felt. And the cowshed was quite spacious, and cows moved freely around it.
- What can you do?! Gadi shrugs. - We do not have Russia here, and not even France with their expanses: our cows really have nowhere to roam.
But it's all nonsense that we mock them!
On the contrary, it is extremely important for us that our "girls" ("banot") are well-fed, well-groomed and happy in their own way.
Because only a happy cow gives a really big milk yield!
By the way, the fact that we fertilize a cow immediately after calving is also not true.
But one unique discovery was made in Israel: the time it takes for a cow to “want” a bull again is directly related to the number of ... steps she takes. Based on this discovery, a special device was created that is attached to each cow; he counts her steps, takes some more indicators of the organism, and as soon as this organism is ready for a new fertilization, we carry out insemination.
Yes, artificially, but this is now done all over the world.
And we take the calf from the cow only for the benefit of the latter: the cow herself is vaccinated, but it doesn’t cost her anything to infect the baby with something.
But come and see how we take care of the calves!
As for genetic engineering, this is true, but just now geneticists have received from us the task of working not only on increasing the udder, but also on strengthening the legs and other parts of the body of the cows.
So, fundamentally new breeds will soon appear on our farms, giving the same milk yield, but with a longer life expectancy.
By the way, our cows not only have a large udder - they themselves are much larger than their ancestors, who lived only 20-30 years ago.
If you put a modern Israeli cow and her "great-grandmother" side by side, then the difference will be approximately the same as between an ordinary person and a basketball player ...
- Are other countries interested in the Israeli experience? I ask.
“Of course,” Gadi replies. - Farmers from Europe come to us all the time, by the way, once there were guests from Russia - there was some kind of billionaire, I forgot his last name, now he decided to create a network of exemplary livestock farms.
But the problem is precisely that in order to obtain our milk yield, it is not enough to buy Israeli cows - you need to organize the whole economy in the same rational way.
For example, it's not just about new breeds - it's also about food, in which every component is thought out.
Without this food, the "girls" will feel worse and will not be able to give milk of the quality that we get from them today on our dairy farms.
The most curious thing is that the basis of cow food is imported to Israel and already here it is enriched with special additives designed to make the animal healthier and increase milk yield.
Well, to ensure that Israeli cowsheds meet the most stringent requirements for environmental protection, two ministries are watching at once - agriculture and ecology.
Working in the barn, Mintzer continues to answer my questions.
It turns out that Israeli cows are indeed stigmatized - each of them has a number entered in a special state register on their ear.
The goal is the same - to identify the stolen cow, to keep records and statistics correctly.
This brand is put on a calf at the age of three months, but in Israel animals are branded not with red-hot iron, as many people think, but ... with dry ice.
Mintzer assures that it is not painful at all or almost.
In any case, he did not notice that the animal suffered after that.
Well, as for the horns, they really are cut off, but this is done solely for the benefit of the cow hostel - after such a (by the way, completely painless operation) cows cannot harm themselves, nor each other, nor a person. But a cow with horns is just really a problem!
In a word, the reality was by no means so terrible.
And Israeli cows live quite well.
Of course, this life cannot be called heavenly, but let's be realistic: in the end, nowhere and never did people raise domestic animals for the sake of the happiness of the latter - everywhere and always this was done for the sake of getting milk from them and, sorry for the cynicism, meat.
And in Israel, it seems, they have learned how to obtain these two most important food products with maximum efficiency, and at the same time - with a fairly humane treatment of animals.
Alas, recently the demands of animal rights activists are so clearly beyond the scope of absurdity that sometimes the question arises of who will protect society itself from them.