Several common pitfalls in dairy cattle farming that farmers should avoid as early as possible

Dairy cattle are a dairy breed developed from yellow cattle through long-term selective breeding. The milk they produce is rich in nutrients and suitable for us to drink over the long term. Many dairy products today are made from it as a raw material, and its economic returns are higher than ordinary beef cattle farming. However, many farmers fall into numerous pitfalls in raising them, which often leads to poor income. Below, Qinong Web explains these major pitfalls in detail for everyone.

1. Rushing for quick results

To profit as quickly as possible, many farmers often breed and milk too early. They rush to breed when the dairy cow is not yet 18 months old, which often makes calving difficult and, in severe cases, causes premature aging of the cow. The correct breeding time should be when the dairy cow is about 18 months old, that is, one and a half years, and reaches a body weight of about 400 kg, at which point breeding can begin; this can maintain good fertility of the young calf. Milking also requires attention to timing. A dairy cow can produce milk at around 300 days, and many farmers start milking as soon as the cow begins producing milk, which causes relatively large nutrient depletion in the cow, makes it hard for her to conceive, and results in lower quality and yield of milk afterward. Milking must be done during a certain lactation period, and there must also be a certain dry period to give the dairy cow time to recover her strength and nutrition.

2. Not paying attention to hygiene and disinfection

After many years of breeding, dairy cattle have extremely strong environmental adaptability and disease resistance, so many farmers do not take their sanitary environment seriously. But in fact, dairy cattle are very sensitive to their environment. If the cow's body is not wiped down for a long time, it will hinder her metabolism and directly affect the cow's health, milk yield, and milk quality. In addition, if the sanitation of the raising site is not clean, ventilation is poor, it is not dry, and it remains in a dark, damp environment for a long time, these reasons will all cause these conditions.

3. Improper feeding

To reduce farming costs, many rural farmers often use traditional raising models and do not feed silage or concentrated feed. This causes dairy cattle to lack many nutrients, leading to nutritional imbalance and many problems. Large-scale farmers, for convenience and speed and to accelerate the growth of dairy cattle, often feed concentrated feed, which also leads to excess nutrition and many metabolic diseases. Feeding must pay attention to a balanced nutritional mix.

4. Long-term tethering

In rural farming, many farmers often use traditional raising methods. To save effort and worry, they tie dairy cattle to wooden stakes regardless of the season, limiting the cow's activity space. This very easily leads to difficult calving, indistinct estrus, poor physique, and other conditions. When raising dairy cattle, the cows must be given a certain amount of exercise every day to promote their metabolism, increase feed intake, improve immunity and disease resistance, and maintain the cow's normal reproductive capacity.

The above are several common pitfalls in dairy cattle farming brought to you by Qinong Web. We hope it can help friends who are currently farming or want to farm. For more related agricultural knowledge, please stay tuned to Qinong Web.