Key Technical Points and Detailed Breeding Methods for Scientific Cattle Raising
Suitable cattle raising, especially beef cattle farming, is a good way for farmers to get rich, but to obtain high benefits, scientific feeding and fine management are essential. Several key technical points should be mastered in scientific cattle raising:
I. Ensure a good growth environment
In cattle raising, the first thing is to do a good job in building cattle sheds, building sheds that are warm in winter and cool in summer according to local conditions, and doing a good job of heat preservation in winter, keeping the inside of the shed above 5°C. Remove manure regularly every day, ventilate at noon, brush the cattle bodies, and regularly lead them outside the shed to bask in the sun, strengthening their physique, which is conducive to fattening.
?II. Be sure to select and raise improved-breed cattle
Selecting cattle of excellent breeds for breeding is the key to obtaining good benefits, because improved-breed cattle not only have good meat quality, fast growth, high feed conversion, and good appearance, but also have a low incidence of disease. It is necessary to change the long-standing practice of carrying out graded crossbreeding, and actively introduce breeds such as Limousin and Simmental for three-way crossbreeding, continuously improving the improvement effect and economic benefits. Never assume that local cattle are already excellent and therefore neglect breed improvement; the breeds being raised must be continuously improved. Breed improvement should be carried out when cattle prices are high, and even more so when cattle prices are low. Where conditions permit, the new technology of frozen semen breeding should be promoted as much as possible. In particular, it should be noted that hybrid bulls must not be used for breeding, because although hybrid bulls are tall and powerful, their heredity is unstable, and they very easily cause inbreeding, degeneration of offspring, and low economic benefits.
?III. Scientific feeding
In cattle raising, cattle should be allowed to eat well and be full of green forage as much as possible, while supplementary feeding of other necessary nutrient feeds should also be provided. To improve cattle-raising benefits, one must start from calf cultivation, especially doing a good job of supplementary feeding during the first and second winter-spring barn-feeding periods, so that they reach a body weight of about 300 kg at 18-24 months of age for marketing, or can be marketed after short-term intensive fattening when their body weight reaches more than 500 kg. After ammoniation, the crude protein content of rice straw and wheat straw can be increased, which can not only reduce feeding costs but also improve the economic benefits of cattle raising. Therefore, new straw treatment technologies such as straw silage, semi-dry storage, and ammoniation should be vigorously promoted and popularized, and straw-based cattle raising should be promoted. Adding urea is an effective way to solve the shortage of protein feed in our country. Urea phosphate and monensin can increase daily weight gain and feed conversion rate by 10%-15%, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) can increase feed utilization rate by more than 12%. Urease inhibitors developed and promoted in recent years also have good weight-gain effects. In addition, various additives such as multivitamins, minerals, and trace elements can all be selected for use.
?IV. Do a good job of deworming and disease prevention
When cattle graze, because they eat forage and come into contact with the ground, they often become infected with various parasites internally and externally. For example, Haemonchus contortus, Bunostomum, and Oesophagostomum are very likely to appear in the cattle digestive tract; cattle are very easily infected externally with parasites such as mites, ticks, lice, flies, and maggots. These parasites absorb nutrients and release toxins, hindering the growth and development of cattle, and can reduce daily weight gain by 35% and feed conversion rate by 30%; cattle botfly maggots reduce hide prices by more than double, and severe parasitism can cause death. It can be seen that deworming is an indispensable and important link in cattle raising. Farmers raising cattle can carry out deworming twice, in spring from March to May and in autumn from September to October, and fattening cattle should be dewormed at the beginning of fattening. At present, there are many types of deworming drugs, but the antiparasitic spectrum is narrow and the effects are not entirely satisfactory. Abamectin (chongkexing) is the first-choice deworming drug. This drug is a broad-spectrum, high-efficiency, low-toxicity new antiparasitic veterinary drug developed and produced in recent years, and can simultaneously expel internal nematodes and external parasites such as mites, ticks, lice, and fly maggots in livestock and poultry. The dosage forms include injections, tablets, capsules, and powders. Among them, the powder is moderately priced and convenient to use. Usage and dosage: administer orally or mix evenly into feed for feeding. Use 1 g per 10 kg of body weight; deworming is best arranged in the afternoon or evening, so that the parasites are expelled during the daytime the next day, making them easy to collect and handle. Before administration, it is best to stop feeding for 6-12 hours, giving only drinking water, to improve drug efficacy. After all kinds of internal and external parasites in cattle are expelled, the effect of scientific feeding and fattening is remarkable. Preventing cattle diseases is also one of the keys to obtaining relatively high benefits in cattle raising. If disease prevention is not done well, scientific feeding will be wasted. To prevent cattle diseases, in addition to doing a good job in cleaning, sanitation, and disinfection of cattle sheds and cattle bodies, ensuring the hygiene and safety of cattle feed and drinking water, and deworming, if there is not enough veterinary technology, one should also maintain regular contact with local veterinarians to do a good job in epidemic disease prevention and disease treatment.
?V. Sell finished cattle in a timely manner
Cattle being raised should be sold in a timely manner once they reach a certain specification; otherwise, because feeding costs are too high, the losses will outweigh the gains, reducing cattle-raising benefits or even yielding no benefit at all. Zhang Haiyan