The cow is the breadwinner of the family, providing milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, cheeses and other products that are good for human health. For stable lactation, you need to know exactly how to behave correctly with the animal, how to feed and care for it, treat it if necessary, and most importantly, how long after calving the cow needs to be milked. This is important for the health of the cow, for the offspring, and for milk production.
When to start milking a cow after calving
It is believed that the first time a cow needs to be milked within 2 hours after calving.The milked colostrum is given to the calf. When milking for the first time, and sometimes several times over, you should leave some colostrum in the udder. This is done to prevent maternity paresis.
It is necessary to milk the first heifer especially carefully. A rude or careless attitude can affect not only the level of milk yield during the first milking, but also form a negative attitude towards any touching of the udder. The person who will milk the cow needs to make sure that his hands are warm and his attitude towards the animal is affectionate and friendly.
You should not leave a cow without milking for a long time after calving, as this will lead to stagnation of milk. The animal may suffer from swelling of the udder, which causes physical suffering. This is reflected in the amount of milk given, and the cow may simply not allow a person to approach the painful udder.
What needs to be done before this?
Before you start milking for the first time, you need to provide the cow with a calm environment and perform the following steps:
- 30-40 minutes after the calf is born, the mother is given a bucket or a half of clean water. It is lightly salted so that the thirst disappears and the cow wants to eat. At first they feed her high-quality fresh hay.
- After giving birth, the animal needs to be cleaned. She is washed with warm water and soap on her belly, the area of the hind legs and tail, and especially carefully and carefully on the udder. All procedures must be done calmly, without irritating or irritating the calving female.
- Old bedding that became dirty during calving, as well as the afterbirth, must be removed, then a thick layer of fresh hay should be laid. You need to make sure that there is no fine dust and dust from dry plants hanging in the air, because it gets into the milk and contaminates it.There should also be no manure in the room. The barn must be ventilated (without drafts!), because milk absorbs any strong odors.
- Before milking, especially in first-calf heifers and new milking cows, the udder must be carefully massaged. When washing, rub it gently with a dry towel and then massage it. In nature, this function is performed by a calf, but in order to obtain a dairy cow, the offspring are not allowed to interact with it.
It is necessary to carefully monitor how the cow eats. She should not overeat, especially at first, as this can cause intestinal dysfunction. But she should not remain hungry, as this will affect the quantity and quality of milk given.
Rules for milking a cow at home
Milking a cow is a set of methods aimed at increasing milk yield. It includes the following methods:
- Frequent milking.
- Excellent care, compliance with hygiene rules.
- Complete balanced nutrition.
- Udder massage.
- Monitoring the health of the animal, taking emergency and adequate measures in case of detection of disorders or diseases.
For the first 10 days, the cow is most often fed only hay to prevent possible digestive problems. Then, from about 12-15 days, they begin to milk it. By this time, the condition of the animal’s udder is normalized, it ceases to be hypersensitive, and milk is produced stably.
To increase milk yield by 4-6 liters, the animal’s diet is increased accordingly. This is done incrementally. If a cow produces 15 liters of milk, her ration is increased to the amount that is given to an animal with a milk yield of 19 liters.As soon as the milk yield reaches the currently desired figure, the ration is raised again, for example, based on 23 liters of milk and so on.
At the same time, the number of milkings increases. If you started with three, then raise it to 4 or 5. If the cow begins to give more milk, her ration increases proportionally. Since overeating has a bad effect on the functioning of the stomach, can lead to illness and a decrease in milk yield, you can increase not the volume of food eaten, but its ability to “drive” milk. To do this, provide more succulent feed such as turnips and beets, good hay, concentrated protein feed, feed yeast or specially processed products.
To do this, add 30 grams of fresh yeast per kilogram of concentrated feed, oatmeal or wheat bran, which is diluted in 1.5 liters of warm water. The resulting mixture is kept warm for 6 to 9 hours, then given to a dairy cow.
How many times a day should an animal be milked?
Normal milking of a cow consists of 3 approaches. If the animal is milked or is a highly productive individual, then the number of milkings per day can reach 4 or even 5.
If all milking methods do not lead to a pronounced increase in milk yield, the cow is gradually transferred to the standard number of milkings - 3 per day. Before the procedure, the udder is massaged with hands, and the process itself is carried out with a fist.
Proper care and feeding
The animal must be provided with a calm environment, cleanliness and careful handling.Fear can affect the release of milk, so loud sounds, sudden movements, slapping the body, screaming, and so on are prohibited.
It is equally important to ensure cleanliness. This affects several factors at once:
- Health status of the cow. Dirt and feces contain pathogens, and after calving the animal is weakened and can easily become ill. In addition, the infection can get into the milk.
- Cleanliness of the premises, the cow itself, the milkmaid and the equipment will help keep the milk tasty, fresh and healthy. It absorbs any unpleasant odors, so you need to milk in a clean, ventilated barn or in the fresh air.
- Feed and its calorie content are calculated based on the cow's milk yield. The more milk she gives and the higher its fat content, the higher quality and nutritious her food should be.
Following these simple rules allows you to get a large amount of milk without depleting the herd.
Possible problems and methods for solving them
A cow's health can be affected by unbalanced feeding, insufficient food, insufficient calorie content, and excess food.
Feed should be varied, mineral supplements should be added to them, and the diet should be calculated based on milk yield.
After calving, cows have a weakened immune system and are therefore especially susceptible to infectious diseases. It is necessary to closely monitor their health status; at the first sign, isolate the sick animal and immediately call a veterinarian. Dangerous diseases are rabies and pseudorabies, brucellosis, parainfluenza, pasteurellosis, psoroptosis, salmonellosis and others. Some are incurable (rabies).
But common problems after the birth of a calf are related to the condition of the mammary glands.In first place in terms of frequency is mastitis - inflammation of the mammary gland, accompanied by the appearance of lumps, inflammation and severe pain. Depending on the severity of the disease, they limit themselves to local treatment or give the cow antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs. It is necessary to milk, but the milk and colostrum are not used and the calf is not fed, as it is infected and full of drugs.
For paresis, air is introduced into the udder, and if the placenta does not separate and come out within 6 hours, milking does not help, the cow is given 5 liters of amniotic fluid or a decoction of onion peels with added sugar. In doubtful cases, you should contact your veterinarian.
