When choosing a cow for a backyard, it is important to know how much milk she gives per day.
Milk is an affordable and inexpensive product, a gift from nature. How much milk does a cow give per day, and what livestock is needed to provide the population of many countries with dairy products? The creation of highly productive breeds and the conditions for keeping a dairy herd make it possible to receive from one cow up to 80 liters of milk under ideal conditions for feeding and keeping.
What determines the productivity of a cow
Several especially productive breeds are known in the world:
- Holstein - daily milk yield up to 110 kg;
- Yaroslavl - up to 62 kg;
- Kholmogorskaya - up to 78 kg.
But this is the maximum milk yield of an individual at the peak of lactation under ideal conditions. Productive breeds require special feed and maintenance. Local breeds, less productive, but adapted to the climate of the region, are more suitable for home backyards. So, a Yakut cow of small stature with long thick wool eats rough fodder, grazing until stable snow cover. How much milk does such a cow give per day? For 2 milk yield 10 liters of milk, in winter it survives even on straw in a cold paddock.
The Simmental cows are recognized as the best in the world. They are the property of Switzerland. With a milk yield of 5000 l / year, they have a fat content of 3.8-4%.
Signs of high milk yield when choosing a wet nurse will be:
- the body is elongated and flattened at the sides;
- the legs are long, the belly is chubby, the head is neat, light;
- the neck is thin, folded skin;
- the back is straight, the skeleton is protruding, the ribs are oblique;
- the udder of the cow is smooth, without seals and dips, the skin and nipples are clean, there are folds, there is a reserve for enlargement during milk production.
On examination, the cow should not kick or butt. The grumpy nature of the animal will not bring joy in communication. An animal's anxiety can be a reaction to pain when touched, this should alert the buyer.
Which cow is considered good for a backyard
The main indicator will be how much milk a cow gives per day. At the same time, it is necessary to understand that nature has incorporated lactation into the genetics of cows for feeding offspring. The milk we receive is intended for the calf. Therefore, the milk yield from a cow changes depending on the time when it was calving, whether she is bearing offspring again.
Equally important is the taste and fat content of the cow's milk. The taste depends on the food being fed. The fat content of milk changes even during one milking. First, milk with a low fat content is expressed. The fattest, bottom milk. This is what is removed to the last drop, preventing mastitis from developing in stagnant zones.
The famous Vologda oil cannot be obtained anywhere except in Vologda. Local herbs give the milk a special flavor that cannot be faked.
It is known that the more productive the cow, the lower the average fat content of milk.At home, the fat content of milk depends on heredity, but feed can be adjusted. Increases the fat content of hay and cattle grazing in forest glades, in the steppe with forbs and flooded meadows. If a cow receives a yeast supplement bran, shredded and special compound feed, fat content and milk yield increase. A cow needs a daily addition of 70-90 grams of table salt to maintain balance.
In Russia, the meat and dairy Bestuzhev breed of cows should be considered productive. The productivity of the breed is 600-700 kg per year. In the backyard, bulls weigh up to 700 kg. The breed is bred in the Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, Tatarstan, Bashkiria.
Physiologically, the fat content of milk in a cow is higher in the first month of lactation, then decreases by 2 months, but the milk becomes more. From the 4th month, milk yield gradually begins to fall, and the cream content in milk increases. And this will continue until the nurse gives up to half a liter of milk. Then drying occurs. The dry period usually starts 2 months before calving. But while there is milk, you cannot throw milking, inflammation of the milk ducts may occur.
How to choose a milking machine for cows
If there are 1-2 cows in the backyard, the hostess does without a special milking machine. Removing the milk from the udder by hand is hard work. Fingers and arm muscles get tired. It is imperative to milk the udder, you cannot skip the milking time, the next milk yield will be less. Therefore, a milking machine was created to facilitate labor. By pulsating action on the nipples during milking, it creates the sensation of being sucked by a calf and collects the milk in a bucket.
There are 2 ways to suck milk from the udder: under vacuum and squeeze. The three-stroke squeeze method is physiologically similar to calf sucking or hand milking. It injures the nipples less. All milking machines are noisy. Therefore, it is necessary to give time to the cow to get used to the technique, in advance, when milking by hand, turn the machine into operation. The efficiency of the installation is judged by the results:
- speed and completeness of milking;
- the reliability of fixing the glasses on the nipples;
- the degree and nature of the noise.
The price of a milking machine for cows depends on the type of installation, its configuration. The quality of products does not always correspond to the price.
The Mystery of Milking the Home Wife
Cleanly dressed, tied with an apron with a milk bucket, the hostess appears in the pen. She strokes the cow, says sweet words to her, washes the udder with warm water, wipes it off with a hard towel. After that, he does a massage, stroking the udder and massaging it with smooth gentle movements. The cow relaxed, the belly sank, and the hostess confidently settles down near the nurse's leg.
How to milk a cow so that she gives all the milk? The sacrament of communication between an animal and a person should not be disturbed by extraneous conversations with pets. Slowly and gently, the hostess frees the udder from the burden of milk. It is wiped with a towel, the nipples are lubricated with technical vaseline without perfume. The cow is ironed and given a bucket of tasty liquor with flour mash or bran. How much milk a cow gives per day also depends on her contact with the owner.