The experiments studied the influence of the vegetation phase of eastern galega (Galega orientalis Lam.) plants in the conditions of the North-Western region of Russia on the characteristics of the nutritional properties of the feed prepared from it. It was established that eastern galega should be harvested in the North-Western region for grass flour and pellets in the stalk phase.

Long-term studies (2000-2020) showed that the introduction of vetchoats grain silo mixture in the diet of dairy cows contributed to an increase in milk productivity by 6.1 %, while reducing the cost of exchange energy for the formation of 1 kg of milk by 1.7 %. The aim of the research was to obtain an innovative feed for dairy cows based on the use of a variety mixture of annual forage crops, from which grain silo mixture can be produced.

The effectiveness of interior-complementary selection of cows by the level of serum enzymes has been revealed. In contrast to traditional selection, the more criteria are taken into account during selection, the more effective it is. When selecting first-calf heifers for one of the enzymes, the difference in milk yield is up to 446 kg of milk, with the total selection for the concentration of serum enzymes, it consistently increases to 656, 1059 and 1228 kg of milk. The same pattern is also characteristic when comparing hereditarily similar animals.

Families represent the highest form of breeding work in dairy cattle breeding, which requires a deep study of breeding records of animals up to 10 generations or more, taking into account the genealogical affiliation. Therefore, the article has theoretical and practical significance in breeding programme. As a result of the long breeding work of specialists of OOO (LLC) “Zazerkal`e” of Gryazovets District in the Vologda Region, a highly productive herd of black-and-white breed has been created.