Tips to overcome problems in cattle rearing

Lack of awareness on aspects of farm management in livestock hampers the full productivity of dairy animals. Some of the problems that are usually encountered in dairy livestock and their possible remedial measures are:

High mortality rate in calves and poor growth. Remedial measure to be taken up are colostrums feeding within an hour after birth, deworming, feeding antibiotics, early introduction to concentrate and greens (creep feeding).

Low milk yield

Main problems among milking animals are reproduction based problems -mainly anoestrus, repeat breeding, long calving interval, low milk performance and mineral deficiencies.

In such cases proper heat detection, feeding balanced rations and mineral supplementation, protection against thermal and ecto and endo parasitic infestation can help avert the problems.

The productive performance of a dairy farm is viable if cows calve every year and produce milk for at least 300 days with high production efficiency. If there are 70-75 cows they should all be in milking. Proper recording of body weight gain, physiological activities and milk production can help in judging the performance of individual animals. From this one can identify the poorly producing animals and undertake the remedial measures in time. The animals which do not respond to improved feeding and management should be removed.

Management

Milking management is very important task in dairy because it is the quality and the production of milk which matters most. Farmers should follow good milking management practices, especially cleanliness and hygiene at the milking place.

Practice regular milking hours as far as possible and equal milking intervals. After washing the udder with antiseptic like KMnO4 and wiping it with a clean cloth, practise dry and full hand milking method followed by stripping.

Complete the milking within 5-7 minutes gently without much noise.

(Dr. Rajinder Singh is Sr Extension Specialist (animal sciences) Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veternary and animal Sciences, Extension Center Rohtak, email: raja.udaybhar@gmail.com, mobile: 09416900788)

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sci-tech-and-agri/tips-to-overcome-problems-in-cattle-rearing/article6680727.ece