Dairy 2 Flashcards
Life cycle of a dairy cow
- Lactating cows
- Dry cows
- Calving
- Calves- replacement heifers and bulls
- Bulls mostly go into beef, some used for breeding
Calving age
22-24mths old
Breeding age
~60 days in milk (means since calving)
Lactation timing
~60 days before calving (300-360 DIM)
Dry period
~60 days
Lactation and body reserves
-body reserves drop off during early lactation
-body reserves regained at late lactation
BCS
-determines fat, protein reserve
-helps with deciding about nutrition, reproduction readiness, post-partum disease, milk production
**if BCS<2, need to do something
Housing during lactation
- Free stalls
- Tie stalls
- Pasture
- Bedding packs
Free stalls
-most common system
-N. America and Europe
-allows animals to move around freely; feces hopefully come out back end
Tie-stalls/ Stanchian Barns
-welfare concerns, becoming unpopular with producers because animals are tied up all the time
-sometimes have cow trainers (electric shock) to make cows back up and pass feces outside stall
Pasture housing
-New Zealand
-warmer weather
-low overhead costs; but lower milk production
Bedding packs
-low initial cost, high maintenance
-cleaning is an issue because there is no regulation about where their manure is
Milk machine musts
- minimize trauma to mammary tissue
- minimize pathogen spread between animals
**vacuum with pulsation to prevent damage
Milking systems
- Milk in parlour
- Milk in stalls in tie stalls. Cow does not move
Parlour types
- Static facilities (eg. herringbone parlours)
- Rotary/carousal facilities
- Robotic milkers