AnimalAnimal BrBreedingeeding inin EstoniaEstonia 2004–20112004–2011 Tartu 2011 Compiled by Prof. Emer. Olev Saveli Edited by Prof. Haldja Viinalass Translators, proof-readers Authors, Liisa Hansson and Ursula Erik © Estonian Animal Breeding Association and authors ISBN 978-9949-9178-0-8 Layout OÜ Paar, Irina Gron Printed OÜ Paar Contents Olev Saveli Foreword ........................................................................................................................... 5 Haldja Viinalass Role of state in animal husbandry ..................................................................................... 6 Liina Jürgenson Animal husbandry, in 2004–2010 .................................................................................... 10 Olev Saveli Estonian Animal Breeding Association ............................................................................ 14 Tanel Bulitko Animal Breeders’ Association of Estonia ......................................................................... 16 A. Association ..................................................................................................................16 B. Estonian Holstein breed .............................................................................................. 18 Tõnu Põlluäär C. Estonian Red breed .................................................................................................... 20 Ilmar Kallas D. Beef cattle breeding .................................................................................................... 22 Käde Kalamees Breeding of Estonian Native Cattle ................................................................................. 26 Matti Piirsalu Poultry breeding .............................................................................................................. 31 Harald Tikk Estonian quail – an endangered breed ......................................................................... 33 Külli Vikat Sheep and goat breeding ................................................................................................ 35 Liia Taaler Estonian fur breeding ...................................................................................................... 40 Krista Sepp Estonian Horse Breeders’ Society ................................................................................... 42 Raigo Kollom Estonian Sport Horse Breeders’ Society ......................................................................... 44 Anne Lilleorg Pig breeding as a tool to serve pork production .............................................................. 46 Külli Kersten The history of animal recording ....................................................................................... 49 Inno Maasikas Aire Pentjärv Mart Uba FOREWORD In Estonia the first breed registry for livestock – a cattle herd from the EU compared with some of the old member states. book – was established in 1885. Herdbook registration and Farmers have managed to renew their machine stock and recognition of other farm animal species and breeds dates equipment, and to build new livestock units equipped with back to the 20th century. Throughout the century, Estonia the latest technologies. In dairy production both the cold has undergone different political regimes, and survived loose-housing system and the total mixed ration feeding shorter and longer periods of occupation by other nations. system were rapidly adopted. Better feeding, management However, despite changes in the country’s political landscape and housing facilitated the expression of the genetic potential and ownership rights, a strong commitment to professional of dairy cattle. The annual milk yield of performance tested work has enabled the Estonian breeders make the most of cows has increased by 2,000 kg over the past seven years. every opportunity to move ahead with breeding activities Milk output exceeded the 7,000 kg milestone in 2007, and aimed at improving the performance of pedigree animals reached 7,713 kg per cow in 2010. Along with the increase through genetic improvement. As Estonia is a small country, in milk productivity, however, the dairy cattle numbers have nucleus breeding herds are usually small in numbers, and declined. On the other hand, the population of beef cattle several breed populations are considered endangered. shows rapid growth. Nevertheless, maintenance and improvement of even the Due to the extensive use of high quality breeding material, smallest breeds has been a success over the years. artificial insemination and effective crossing programmes in A more detailed and comprehensive historical overview of pig breeding, the pork carcasses yield more lean meat and the changes that have occurred in the breeding work and less fat. Positive trends can also be observed in breeding of the breeders’ organisations through time is presented in our other species of farm animals. previous 2004 (English version) and 2005 (Estonian version) Estonian pedigree animals have gained a good reputation editions of Animal Breeding in Estonia. The present in different EU countries as well as in other markets, thus publication only briefly highlights the history of livestock exports have shown a substantial increase in recent years. breeding. The focus is on the years from 2004 to 2011, This helps livestock breeders pay back their loans and cover following Estonia’s accession to the European Union. New the losses they have made during the years of recession. markets have been opened up, while competition has become tougher than ever before over these seven years. Successful livestock holdings across Estonia have benefitted Prof. Emer. Olev Saveli from EU subsidies despite the fact that the new members Compiler have been receiving several times lower rates of support 5 ROLE OF STATE IN ANIMAL HUSBANDRY Prof. Haldja Viinalass Veterinary and Food Board Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences Size and location of the country The Republic of Estonia is one of the Baltic countries in the northern part of Europe. It is bounded by the Gulf of Finland in the North and by the Gulf of Riga in the west. The three closest neighbours of Estonia are the Russian Federation in the East, the Republic of Latvia in the South and the Republic of Finland in the North (less than 90 km from the northern coast) Estonia extends from 57° 30' N to 59° 40' N and from 21° to 28° 15' E. With the total area of 45,200 km2 Estonia is one of the smallest countries in Europe locating on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Estonia has 14,421 Baltic Sea islands with a total area of 4,130 km2. There are 1,150 lakes with a total area of 2,015 km2. The distance between the eastern and western borders is approximately 370 km and between the northern and southern borders approximately 240 km. Winter in Estonia (H. Viinalass) approximately twofold. Nevertheless, there may be especially severe draughty periods in the western part of Estonia in spring and in the first half of summer. Estonia is rich in forests – forest land comprises 48% of the land use. The total agricultural land in usage comprises ca 21% of the country’s territory. Human population and trends The population of Estonia is 1.340 million people, 68.8% of them being of Estonian nationality. According to Statistics Estonia, the population of rural municipalities was 473 300 in total, as of 1 January 2011 (35.3% of Estonian population). The population density in 2010 was 30.9 inhabitants per km2. Estonia has 47 towns and 194 parishes, and is divided into Through centuries Estonia has been under the reign of 15 counties. different countries. Estonia was declared an independent republic in 1918. In 1940 it was occupied by the Soviet Union In 1992, 50.6% of the rural working population was employed and became one of the 15 union republics of the Soviet Union. in agriculture and hunting. The number of people engaged The democratic movement for free Estonia started at the in agriculture, forestry and fishing (primary sector) has end of the 1980s. The independent Republic of Estonia was decreased steadily and accounted for 11.8% of the employed reestablished on 21 August 1991. people in rural areas and 3.0% of all employed people in Estonia in 2010. This has brought about several restructuring difficulties for labour market in rural areas, such as structural Climatic and geographical features and long-term unemployment and lower incomes. According to Statistics Estonia, the added value created in The average annual air temperature in Estonia is 5.1 °C. the fields of agriculture and hunting was 249 billion euros in The air temperature in summer is somewhat lower than the current prices in 2010, which accounted for 2.0% of total average for the latitude, but considerably higher in winter. added value created in Estonia (Table 1). The vegetation period generally lasts for 170-185 days, the period of active plant growth is 120-130 days. The annual amount of precipitation (550-650 mm) exceeds evaporation 6 Table 1. Relevance of agriculture in added value and employment in the years 2004–2010 Source: Statistics Estonia Overview of the production systems Agriculture is an important economic sector that supplies the population with domestic foodstuffs and ensures employment in rural areas and landscape maintenance. Great changes have taken place in Estonian agriculture since the beginning of the 1990s. According to the preliminary data of the agricultural census carried out by Statistics Estonia