Rational feeding of cows greatly improves the quality of dairy and meat products. To properly organize the feeding process, it is important to know or calculate how much pasture needs to be allocated per cow. The required grazing area will vary for each case and, at a minimum, depends on the age of the animal and the characteristics of the pasture.
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How many hectares of land do you need for 1 cow?
To have enough feed for livestock, you need to sow the land. The structure of cultivated areas on arable land is influenced by many factors. Some of the most significant are the specialization of the farm, the natural and weather conditions of the region, the plowed area of agricultural land, and the area of pastures.
Consequently, the percentage of different forage crops will differ for each farm:
- For beef cows:
- grains – 36-40%;
- perennial grasses – 41-45%;
- annual grasses and silage – 12-15%.
- For dairy cows:
- grains – 33-36%,
- perennial grasses – 40-44%;
- annual grasses and silage – 14-17%;
- root crops – 2-3%.
Based on this structure, the recommended average crop area per head should be:
- grains - 0.37-0.50 hectares;
- perennial grasses – 0.43-0.60 hectares;
- silos - 0.17-0.22 hectares;
- root crops – 0.03-0.04 hectares4.
Ultimately, it turns out that for one head of a cow there is at least 1 hectare of land.
How to herd cows correctly?
The transition to pasture farming should be carried out in stages. Within 10-12 days, they begin to feed with roughage, and later add molasses. This is done in order to stabilize rumen digestion. It is important to take into account that the height of the grass stand per hectare should not exceed 15 centimeters, so that liquid manure does not fall on the leaves and does not remain with the grass stand for the next harvest.
In addition to feed crops, the diet must contain at least 150 grams of salt. To provide all the needs for micro- and macroelements, magnesium, cobalt, manganese and other additives are added to the salt. For grazing, not only food is important, but also watering.
Knowing the peculiarities of organizing the grazing period, you can consistently obtain the required amount of products.With proper pasture management, the cow gets no less milk than she gave indoors.
