Diary cows Flashcards
Aus industry
- location driven by where you can grow feed (digestable pasture) high rainfall area
- needs to be good quality feed for good milk production
- ## proximity close to major cities (in order for quick milk supply to city)
what states are these dairy farms in
VIC has 2/3rd of aus dairy cows
- fewer farms with more higher producing cows
what drives the price of milk
- quality
- transport costs (cost of production)
- demand and supply
Walk through dairy
- older method
- disadvantage: humans need to bend over
- low throughput, low volume system
herringbone
- come in a mass and organise themselves (there is food) once milked they leave all at once
- humans don’t need to bend down
- more efficient throughput
- can milk a herd of 300
rotary dairy
- more efficient
- a continuous system
- less labour per cow
- automatic cup
- only need 1 labourer to cup the cow
whats a vat
- to store milk in a higenic way to wait for tanker
dairy cows and sources of income
- milk
- older cows get sold for meat
- male calves can’t be milked so they are sold
- heiffer calves excess can be sold
- excess feed can be sold
cost incurred in dairy farming
- growing grass for feed
- cost of land and capital
- fertiliser
- cost of labour
- AI
- animal health treatment
- suplementary feed (grain, which can be a major cost)
- cost of infrastructure
whats the life cycle of a dairy cow?
- first calf at 24 months old
- gestation period 9 months
- stay in heard for 5-6 lactations (depends on the health and productivity of cow)
- produce a calf every 12 months (which allows them to be in sync with the herd, grass growth)
months at which calf is in lifecycle
- Calves : lactating and non pregnant (3mnths)
- Mated: pregnant and lactating (6mths)
Dried off: pregnant, non lactating (3mths)
- Mated: pregnant and lactating (6mths)
single calf facts
- 30-35kg
- 24 hrs with mum
- colostrum (important for calves immune system
when is a Bull calf sold
- sold at 7-14 days
extra heifer calves
- not all needed for replacement
- milk for 8-12 weeks
- weaned
- mated at 15 months
- first calf at 24 months
whats included in a milking herd?
- heifer calves
- mature cows
- dry cows
- breeding bulls
(culled once finished dairy production)
AI use
- used to allow farmers access to a higher quality semen (animal genetics) from an elite bull
- its more cost efficient
role of mop up bull
- will breed with cows who haven’t gotten pregnant
- it enables beef crossed calves which are easy to manage
what is quality of milk
components:
- water 87%
- butter fat 3-4%
- protein 3-3.5% (80% casein, 20% whey)
- carbs 4.9% (lactose)
- minerals (calcium)
- vitamins (especially vitamin A)
what determines the quality of milk?
- butterfat+protein=milk solids
=bulk milk cell count (BMCC) - bacterial count
- freezing point
- residues
- sediment
seasonal calving
- most common in late winter, early spring (cows are calved over a restricted period)
benefits of seasonal calving
- in pasture areas it allows synchronisation with cows lactation curve and the grass growth curve
- utilise different prices of milk throughout the years
- efficient utilisation of labour (only need during one period)
- most efficient
disadvantages of seasonal calving
- if a cow fails to get pregnant then you have to cull
- carry over dry sows
- milk stale cows over dry period
- slows down improvement of herd halted
Split calving system
- 2 or more caalving periods in a year
benefits of split calving
- retains some of the efficiencies of seasonal
- limits the consequences of poor reproductive performance (less carry overtime)
- rather than a cow get preganant late you can delay a bit and have it in the austumn when growth of pasture is still high
- can supply milk in the winter (payment incentive, winter milk prices are higher)
disadvantages of split calving
- more complicated herd management
- poor reproductive performance can become acceptable
- no period of no milking (you need labour whole year which is costly)
year round calving
- the most applicable when there is a steady feed all year round
benefits of all year round calving
- ensures year-round milk supply sought by some milk factories (can take advantage of winter milk prices
disadvantages of year round calving
- prolonged inter calving intervals lead to reduced production
- workload spread over a whole year
what is mastisis
- inflammation of the mammary gland in the udder, typically due to bacterial infection via a damaged teat
- most economically important to dairy industry as it can lead to poor milk quality whcih leads to reduced payment, antibiotic use
- cost of treatment is expensive
- culling cattle
sub clinical mastitis
- no visible changes in milk, udder or cow
- decreased milk porduction
- decreased milk quality
- not generally treated during lactation
- dry cow therapy