It was presented the results of studies of the cadmium effect loading on the activity of the glutathione system of antioxidant protection in young cattle, namely on the activity of glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, the level of reduced glutathion. It was established that feeding of cadmium chloride to bullocks at a dose of 0.03 and 0.05 mg/kg body weight contributed to a decrease in both the enzyme and non-enzyme link of the glutathione antioxidant defense system. The toxic effect of cadmium contributes to a change in stationary concentrations of radical metabolites. О2˙ˉ, ˙ОН, НО2˙, which, in turn, initiate lipid peroxidation processes. The lowest level of glutathione indexes of the antioxidant defense system in the blood of young cattle was established on the sixteenth and twenty fourth day of the experiment, it was associated with enhanced activation of lipoperoxidation and an imbalance between the activity of the antioxidant system and the intensity of lipid peroxidation. The feeding of cadmium chloride to bullocks at a dose of 0.03 and 0.05 mg/kg of animal weight did not affect the activity of the glutathione antioxidant defense system in their blood. It was established that the greater the amount of cadmium chloride in the feed, the lower the activity of the glutathione system of the antioxidant defense of the body of bulls. Thus, cadmium chloride suppresses the antioxidant protection system, in particular, by reducing the activity of the enzyme link: glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and non-enzyme link: reduced glutathione.