Dairy farming is the keeping of cattle, goats and camels for milk production. The Friesian cow which is black and white and produces more milk than other breeds. ‚
Jersey, it is adaptable to extreme heat and cold conditions. Ayrshire has white and brown patches. Guernsey is fawn or red and white in colour. It is hardy and docile.
Managing large herds
Study the cow to know how much it can consume in a day in terms of silage, straws and concentrate. Feeding should be done according to body weight and yields of the animal. A Friesian cow will eat 3% of its body weight as dry matter. Examples of fodder include, napier grass, boma Rhodes, lucern, desmodium and sweet potato vines.
Studying the cow
Cows should either be resting, chewing cud or feeding. Cows lagging behind when feed are brought has not been chewing cud, its lame or might have another problem. When a cow is lame separate it from other cows and take it to the crush to be treated immediately
Pest control
Reduce the movement of animals, vehicles, and humans in and out of the farm. All new animals joining the herd should be quarantined first to avoid spreading infections.
Isolate Anthrax, foot and mouth cows and notify the veterinarian. Vaccinate the cow after every 4 months for foot and mouth while for anthrax annually.
Milking
Machine milking reduces the cost of labour and performs better quality milking jobs. Milking should be done within seven minutes, after the 7 minutes the cow starts producing oxytocin hormone.
Lack of proper milking techniques may result in mastitis, which is caused by bacteria introduced during the milking process.
