Most modern cow breeds are distinguished by stamina, good health and good performance. Cattle farms are usually cost-effective, and their owners earn considerable profits. However, in order for such animals to give a lot of meat and milk, it is, of course, necessary to strictly observe the technology of their maintenance. First of all, cattle should receive high-quality feed in sufficient quantities. Cows should be placed in clean, ventilated, warm rooms.
Types of cattle by productivity
All the currently existing cattle breeds are divided into two large groups: meat and dairy. In Russia, traditionally bred mainly cow breeds belonging to the second type of productivity. The vast majority of farms in our country are engaged in the cultivation of dairy cattle. Private traders usually also contain just such cattle.
Dairy Cows: The Most Popular Breeds
The profitability of any farm primarily depends, of course, on how good conditions for keeping cattle are provided on it. However, for farmers who want to maximize profits from their business, it is equally important, among other things, to choose the breed of cattle correctly.
At the moment, it is cows that are the most popular and common type of productive animals. Cattle is grown in most countries of the world. And, of course, breeding work with this type of farm animals is carried out on a very large scale. Many good breeds of cows have been bred by specialists. This also applies, of course, to cattle of the milk direction of productivity.
In Russia and the countries of the former CIS, the most popular breeds of cows of this group are:
- Holstein;
- Dutch
- black and motley;
- red steppe;
- Kholmogorskaya;
- Yaroslavl
The most productive breed from this list is considered Holstein. From one such cow during the milking period, you can get up to 7-10 tons of milk. The disadvantage of cattle of this breed is considered only a certain moodiness in terms of conditions of detention. Farmers have to pick up food for Holstein cows, for example, of the highest quality.
The most undemanding breeds from the above list are the last four domestic ones. Such cows give less milk than the Dutch and Holstein. Annual milk yields from them range from 4.5-7 tons. But the costs of maintaining cattle of these varieties are usually not too large.
Popular meat breeds
Some farmers in our country also keep such cattle. Cows of this productivity group are grown to produce meat. When breeding cattle of this type at an early age, calves are not separated from the mother.
The most popular breeds of meat cows in Russia are:
- Kazakh white-headed;
- Hereford;
- Kalmyk.
The content of Kazakh white-headed cattle is already advantageous in that the bulls of this breed are able to gain weight up to 1 ton, and cows - 600 kg. The slaughter age of such cattle reaches 1.5 years. Adult bulls and Hereford cows weigh about the same. The advantage of this breed is very tasty marbled meat, the disadvantage is low milk yield. Hereford calves, unfortunately, have to be fed almost from the first days of their birth.
Kalmyk bulls are also capable of gaining body weight up to 1 ton. Cows of this breed weigh about 550 kg. Kalmyk cattle also demonstrates good indicators in terms of milk yield - 1-1.2 tons per year. In addition, milk in such cows is usually very oily. And this, in turn, of course, has the most beneficial effect on the health of calves and their ability to quickly gain weight.
Key content technologies
For successful breeding of cattle of any direction of productivity, it is important to provide animals with:
- good living conditions by building a spacious barn;
- good nutrition, having developed the most suitable diet for this breed.
There are only two main technologies for cattle breeding:
In this case, the following methods of cattle maintenance can be used on the farm:
All these techniques on farms in Russia are currently used quite widely.
Tethered content
Such a system is most often organized in large livestock complexes. In this case, tethered technology is used only when keeping cows of the milk direction of productivity. In Russia, more than 90% of farms specializing in cattle breeding work on this principle.
When using this technology, cows are kept in leashes in corrals of a small area. All technological operations in such an economy, including feeding and milking, are carried out in a limited area. The cattle ration at the stall content is composed mainly of concentrated feed and impurities.
The main disadvantage of this method of breeding cows is, first of all, that the animals in this case are deprived of the opportunity to actively move. Because of this, even with all the norms laid down in terms of feeding and care, the content of cattle on the farm becomes less profitable. Animals in such farms reduce productivity and often get sick. Therefore, farmers have a need for additional costs for veterinary services.
Features of the organization of the farm with tethered content
Cows are placed in such farms in pens, in most cases having a length of 2 meters. This distance is enough to ensure that the manure is collected in a special gutter and diverted outside the barn. Before corrals on farms of this variety, feeders and drinking bowls are mounted.
Stalls are located in farms using cattle tethered keeping technology in 2-4 rows. Next to the room where the cows themselves are located, in such complexes there are rooms for cooling milk and servicing the equipment used. Milking at such farms is carried out using a special integrated automated system. In small farms, mobile devices can also be used for this purpose. On very small farms, milking with tethered livestock is often done simply by hand.
Loose technique
This technology for cattle was originally used only for beef cattle. Recently, however, this technique is increasingly being introduced on farms specializing in the cultivation of dairy cattle. This is due primarily to the emergence of new modern equipment that allows you to organize milking parlors in such cowsheds.
Using the technique of loose housing for cattle, animals have the opportunity to walk around the entire area of the complex. Close stalls are not equipped on such farms. As a result, cows get less sick, and their productivity increases.
Features of loose housing
Cows on farms organized in this way are usually divided into technological groups (by age, productivity, etc.) of 25-50 heads. Distribution of animal feed in such complexes is carried out using loaders. Also, on farms with loose housing of cattle, automated individual feeding stations are organized for a specific group of cows. Manure in complexes of this type is removed using bulldozers.
The composition of the feed in the farms with the maintenance of cows by the loose method is selected for each group of animals separately. This allows you to effectively control the amount of cattle vitamins, trace elements and nutrients.
Cow stall
Using this technology, cattle bred on a farm do not leave its territory throughout their lives. The stall technique of keeping cows is used, usually in areas where arable land predominates and there are no pastures located near water bodies.
The disadvantages of such cattle breeding technology are primarily the fact that cows are not able to eat fresh green grass even in the summer season. As a result, the cost of feed increases sharply in the household.
In addition, animals on such farms experience constant stress. Also, they often manifest various kinds of diseases of the musculoskeletal system. In particular, such problems often occur when using tethered content technology.
The main advantage of cattle stall breeding is the ability to automate milking processes, feed distribution, etc. On the farm, using this method, all engineering communications can be placed as compactly as possible.
There are only two main varieties of this technology for cattle keeping:
- year-round stall;
- stall-walking.
In the latter case, spacious grounds are arranged next to the barn. Here, animals are occasionally driven out for walks.
Cattle grazing system
This cattle breeding technique is currently considered the most economically viable in Russia. Using this technology, farms are able to significantly reduce feed costs.
On the farms of such an organization, in the warm season, cows are driven to pasture. Animals get the opportunity to actively move and eat the most natural food for them - green grass. It is the cows that are kept in the summer on pasture technology, and in the winter on loose housing, show the best results in terms of productivity. Also, cattle in this case is much less sick.
Among the benefits of grazing, among other things, include the fact that cows use milk to improve the quality of milk. Consequently, farmers have the opportunity to sell it at a higher price. Some food processing companies even give livestock farmers a special premium for pasture milk.
The disadvantages of this grazing technology include mainly the difficulty of monitoring the herd. In this case, it is difficult to identify sick animals or injured in this case immediately.
Rules for keeping cattle: feeding features
The diet for cows, both dairy and meat, should be as balanced as possible. Animals of both of these productivity groups should receive a sufficient amount of proteins, vitamins, minerals, etc.
All feed used in animal husbandry is classified into three large groups:
- juicy - vegetables, root crops, silos;
- rough - grass, hay, straw;
- concentrated - grain, bran, mixed fodder.
In the diet of cattle of both productivity groups, all these varieties must be present without fail.
Features of feeding dairy cattle
In the diet of cows in this direction of productivity, cereal and leguminous herbs, root crops, silage, and oilcake must be included. In winter, only the highest quality hay should be used for such animals. The advantage of using such feeds is primarily an increase in the palatability of milk.
To milk yield on the farm when the content of cattle were high, the cows should be provided with a sufficient number of concentrates. However, too many such feeds are usually not introduced into the diet of dairy cows. Otherwise, the animals will give milk of reduced fat content (due to a decrease in the formation of acetic acid in the rumen).
Cattle Feeding
On farms specializing in breeding such cattle, special attention should be paid to the development of a uterine herd diet. Breeding cows should eat as balanced as possible. In this case, the herd will be replenished with healthy, resilient calves, capable of rapid development.
Young meat breeds are fed, of course, as nutritious as possible. In the first six months of life, milk or reverse should be present in the diet of such calves. Starting from 6 months, food waste is introduced into the meat cattle menu, among other things.
In the summer of such gobies and heifers it is advisable to drive them to pastures rich in cereal, bean and meadow grasses. Also, in the warmer months, dried cattle are often given dried corn stalks, alfalfa and clover. In winter, in addition to concentrates, silage and straw are necessarily introduced into the diet of such cows.