Cow: content at home, methods and technologies

"The cow in the yard is a prosperity on the table," says the popular saying. The main nurse in the peasant household, almost a family member, needs careful attention, for which he supplies his patrons with nutritious milk for 5-10 lactations at a lifetime of 20-25 years. What are the conditions for this animal?

The content of cows, carried out by tied and loose means, requires a thorough approach with a rational daily routine, adequate nutrition and quality care.

Cows on a private farmstead

The household uses mostly loose cows: the animals are in a bright, warm, well-ventilated room with common drinkers and feeders. An obligatory condition necessary to preserve the health of cattle and prevent the appearance of mastitis is the warm floor and dry litter, a complete change of which is made every six months.

Dryness of the upper layer is ensured by the regular laying of fresh straw and sawdust. Under such a system, biochemical decomposition of the lower layers occurs, which results in the release of a large amount of heat, which is especially important in winter cold. Also in the floors there should be a slope for the urine slope and the manure collecting trough, which should preferably be cleaned twice a day. Feed and water are fed into shared feeders and drinking bowls.

Animal care in summer

In the summer period, the cow, the content, which is most often fed in the household without a knot, is grazing. Usually in the villages the shepherd gathers cows every morning, for the whole day takes them out to the pasture and returns home in the evening. Being in a large group contributes to the normal physical and psychological development of the animal. The factor of controlling the composition of groups is very important, since a new cow in the herd or the aggressive behavior of any individual negatively affects the milk productivity of the others.

In summer, the cow, the content of which is daily hard work, can be on the walking area with a mandatory canopy, protecting from rain and hot sunlight. There, under the canopy, nurseries are installed with a mandatory briquettes of salt-lisuntsa, an important component involved in the formation of bone tissue, improving appetite, increasing the digestibility of feeds and being an excellent preventive against diseases for young animals.

Features of feeding

Cows feed in the summer consists of pasture, as a complementary food used vegetables and fruits from the infield. In winter, the basis of the diet is harvested hay, straw, root crops, as well as mineral and vitamin supplements. To water animals follows warm clean water at a rate of about 80-100 liters of fluid per day per head.

For the productive maintenance of livestock it is very important to accustom oneself and animals to a clearly marked daily routine, to keep the same intervals between milking and feeding. A cow, the content of which requires an investment of certain costs, with an average milk yield of 15-20 liters should be eaten 3 times a day. When milk is more than 20 liters, the number of meals and milking increases to 4-5 times.

Farm content: loose

The free-of-charge maintenance is also used in farms with a large livestock population (from 400 head and more). Previously, it was common in meat cattle breeding, today it is increasingly used in dairy production.

Cows are created as close to natural conditions as possible with freedom of movement in spacious rooms and on walking areas. Manure cleaning is usually done twice a year; Animals are provided with a deep unchanged litter made of straw, sawdust, peat. It is important to pour a new layer of litter daily, not allowing it to get completely wet.

Some farms use manure processing technology with its division into 2 components: a liquid fraction stored in large ditches with further use as fertilizer, and a solid part used as litter.

A feature of the system of loose maintenance is the unhindered access of cattle to coarse fodder located directly on the territory of the cattle-breeding complex: under a canopy, on land banks, in silos. Distribution of feed in the room is made in case of bad weather. The animals are drunk with the help of group drills.

Advantages of the non-stick way

Advantages of the non-coherent method is an active exercise that positively affects the health of animals, contributing to their immunity and milking. On such farms, labor costs are significantly reduced and great importance is attached to the mechanization of work, consisting in the use of modern equipment: for milking, transportation, and primary processing of milk.

The disadvantage of this type of livestock on large farms is often the ill-considered nature of the breeding scheme, which leads to increased humidity, untimely manure harvesting, gas contamination, which adversely affects the health of cows.

In the case of an unobtrusive method, the obligatory condition of the cattle-breeding complex is the presence of the maternity ward. There, the cow, whose content requires special attention to the animal, is about 1.5 months old (the period of its maximum expansion). Then it is translated into the main group; While taking into account its milk production.

Contents by the tethered method

The traditional method used on dairy farms is the tethered content of cows. Cattle are in stalls equipped with fixation devices: clamp, chain, mechanical or automatic. The length of the stall averages from 1.8 to 2.0 meters in such a way that the cow can freely take a reclining position. All the stalls are equipped with metal grilles, through which the excrement of the animal falls into the dung canal.

All operations related to the maintenance of the animal are carried out right there, in the stalls, the equipment of which includes:

• Tie and metal frame for fixing the leash;
• Feeder (about 70 cm wide);
• stall;
• Channel for transporting manure.

Key processes

Feed distribution is carried out using stationary or mobile distributors in feeders made of moisture-proof materials (metal, concrete). At the bottom of the feeders, located above the bed of the stall for 5-7 cm, there are holes for drainage of liquid residues after washing and disinfection.

Cows are milked by portable milking machines. This operation requires a lot of manual labor, in order to reduce the cost of which it is recommended to mount high-performance milking machines in special rooms.

The advantages and disadvantages of the tethered method

Advantages of the method of tethered content:

• Normalized feeding of the animal taking into account the productivity and age;
• 5-7 tons of milk per year. That is how much the cow is capable of giving, the content of which is carried out in compliance with all technological norms and standards;
• Reduction of traumatism of calves during maturation;
• Improving the processing of feed in fat and muscle mass.

The disadvantages are:

• A high percentage of manual labor (caring for animals, cleaning stalls, monitoring the condition of cows, conducting medical and preventive measures);
• Heavy working conditions of the operators of machine milking, forced to drag the milking machines along the barn, repeatedly crouch beside each animal).

Ways to keep cows: which one to choose?

The method of keeping cows using different methods of organizing work, milking, feeding, harvesting manure is the determining factor in the application of various technologies for obtaining meat and milk from cattle. For dairy production, the most convenient is the tethered content, to the minuses of which one can attribute the deterioration of labor productivity, the complication of reproduction, the lack of active exercise in animals. This technology of keeping cows requires a small area of premises, facilitates the work of veterinarians, allows feeding animals individually.

With loose-fitting content, there is no need for a large number of personnel, animals actively move, feed from common feeders. The work of veterinarians and livestock specialists is complicated: they require more actions to provide medical procedures and maintain records of reproduction.