A man domesticated a cow about 12 thousand years ago. The ancestor of our cows is considered a wild tour, a strong, ungulate animal, with black, shaggy hair and a white stripe along the back. Their range was Europe, Asia, some regions of Africa. Males of tours were used by people as draft force during construction and tillage, and their females gave milk. However, it was only enough to feed their own cubs. Having discovered its nutritional value and taste, people have learned to betray turits.
With the passage of time, their appearance began to change. The individuals became larger due to the fact that they began to feed better and were no longer used for hard work. The physiological characteristics of the cow's udder have also changed . From generation to generation, milking cows has led their udders to “tune” to the continuous production of milk. In ancient times, hardly anyone thought about how much milk a cow gives per day.
Man has worked hard on breeding various breeds of this wonderful animal. There are breeds of cows adapted for life in different climatic conditions: in the mountains, in the harsh northern climate and in the steppe. They are shaggy and smooth, black and white, tall and not very. Whatever the cow, its main purpose is to give milk.
When a cow gets milk
Like all mammals, the production of milk is facilitated by the hormone prolactin, respectively, the mother’s milk appears after the birth of the baby. Milk is formed in the body of the cow so that the calf can feed. Each emptying of the mammary gland causes its subsequent filling. As soon as the dispensing stops, the appearance of milk also ceases. The average milk yield per cow per day in this case can be sharply reduced.
This is exactly what happens in nature. The baby grows up, loses the need for milk, and it disappears over time. However, man has learned to artificially maintain the "production" of milk by regular milking.
Proper care
How much milk a cow gives per day depends largely on the proper care of it. This is not only daily grazing and milking. In both summer and winter, the cow needs to be cleaned, washed, and claws hoisted. In the summer you can bathe it completely. The stall must also be kept clean. Not every cow will lie on a dirty litter. Most likely, in this case, the burenka will stand on its feet all night, and in the morning it will produce less milk than usual.
For convenience, in the floor of the stall, you can punch a groove where you can throw off manure. From there, it is easier to collect and take out of the barn. Such a groove should be on the side opposite from the feeder. The stable should be lit and not too large so that it retains heat in the winter. Before leaving the nurse on a winter stall, a feeding trough, a leash, a stable floor and other “cow” utensils should be disinfected. Drafts should not be allowed.
Proper feeding of a dairy cow
A popular proverb says: "It’s expensive to feed cattle, ruin is bad to feed." Cattle feeding is the most expensive “moment” in its maintenance. Depending on physiological characteristics, a burenka can eat up to 70 kilograms of various feed per day. If the cow is underfed, the milk yield will be reduced by half, the animal will lose weight greatly. The quality and amount of nutrition directly affect how much milk a cow gives per day.
In the pasture period, the cow mainly eats grass. But its diet should be supplemented with other types of feed to improve the quality and quantity of milk. The cow's winter menu, designed for one day, should consist of the following products:
- Hay or spring straw -7-8 kg.
- Sugar beets, Jerusalem artichoke or potatoes - 10-15 kg.
- Feed carrots - 2 kg.
- Wheat bran - 5-6 kg.
- Oilcakes, meal - 1-2 kg.
- Food waste, bread - up to 8 kg.
- Salt - 100 g.
- Oats, corn - up to 7 kg.
It is important for owners to remember that a cow is a kind and intelligent animal. She feels how she is treated and feels kindness. Of course, nutrition plays an important role in the productivity of the animal, but a good attitude noticeably affects how much milk a cow gives per day.
Cows' milk yield, or How much a cow gives milk
A young cow gives about 9-10 liters of milk per day. With age, "milkness" increases. It reaches its peak by the fifth to sixth calving and can reach 12-14 liters per day. However, there are Burenki record-holders whose daily milk yield reaches 20 liters. Based on this figure, you can calculate how many liters of milk a cow can produce per year. On average, this figure ranges from 4 to 5 thousand liters.
In the summer, in the presence of a large amount of fresh grass, milk productivity increases, in winter it, accordingly, becomes less.
Dairy Cows
When evaluating a cow’s “milkness”, it is necessary to take into account its age, food quality, breed, and productivity of its mother or other relatives. The most dairy breeds common in our country are:
- Kholmogorskaya;
- Yaroslavl
- red steppe;
- Kostroma
- black and white;
- red and colorful.