Keeping a cow at home for beginners, raising cattle on a private farm

A well-built animal farm is the dream of any professional breeder. The health of the livestock directly depends on how comfortable the conditions are. The requirements for the improvement of buildings are quite high, but this fact is compensated by the fact that with proper care, the overall productivity of livestock increases, and a person makes a profit. This article will describe what types of buildings there are for cows, outline the types of structures being built and the features of the materials for their manufacture.

Basic technical requirements for buildings

The main reason for the fundamental importance of choice is that the vital activity of the cow directly depends on the ambient temperature. Animals cannot stand stuffiness and cold. The optimal indicator varies from 8 to 10 degrees above zero. However, in the summer it is difficult to achieve this, so the norm during this period is +20-25 degrees. The above conditions can only be achieved if the sheds are built correctly.

The construction of a cow house must follow strictly defined technical regulations. The basic rules include the following:

• the building should not be located near residential premises. The minimum distance is considered to be 15 m.
• It is not recommended to keep drinking water near the barn. This is done in order to prevent animal feces from getting into the liquid. It is important to move a typical animal house away from the sources by at least 20 m.
• When drawing up a project for a room, it is recommended to think in advance about the issues of lighting, heating and ventilation of the future building.
• The dimensions of the barn must correspond to the physiological needs of the animals. Cows need to move and move around periodically.

In addition to the above, it is very important to choose environmentally friendly materials for future construction that will not harm the life and health of the animal. Such raw materials include brick, adobe and all types of wood.

Milking

The regularity and timing of milking are closely related to the dynamics of the dairy herd. It has been scientifically proven that the frequency of the event improves milk production. Milk indicators for each time period between milkings in the table:

The production of milk in the udder is not equal in periods. The highest secretion is observed in the first 4 hours. But the filling of the udder occurs unevenly - after a decrease is observed, the level is maintained for 10 hours.

It turns out that a cow's lactation can be controlled. Milk secretion increases with three milkings. This helps to increase milk yield by 20-30%. Over 12 hours, there is not only a difference in the amount of milk, but also the accumulation of fat and proteins in it. The table shows the results:

A positive result cannot be achieved if the intervals between activities are unevenly distributed.

When changing the number of milkings, experts take into account many factors: from the physiological state of the animal to the size of the room.

The rules of the event mean the following:

1. Monitoring the properties of milk obtained from individuals with 3-4 milk yields. This will help to better regulate the nutritional value of feed.
2. Record changes in the weight of cows over 3-4 milkings. This will help you adjust your diet in time. Properly created conditions will allow animals to eat better.

Standard preparation for milking with machines includes washing and wiping both the teats and the entire udder. The cows are usually ready to give milk right away. This is determined by the noticeable enlargement of this organ. If swelling is not observed, massage is needed. To do this, wrap your fingers around the lower parts of the udder and, stroking, pull towards the nipples.

General milking rules include:

• udder preparation;
• milking machines;
• milking;
• cleaning devices;
• washing the udder.

The preparation of the udder for manual milking begins with a massage. During the procedure, he is washed with warm soapy water, and his hands are warmed at the same time. If they are cold, the female will not give the entire volume of milk. According to technical conditions, you need to sit next to the cow on the right side. When milking by hand, the udder teats are lightly clenched into fists and then quickly unclenched. Some farmers use the two-finger technique. Veterinarians believe that the latter technique leads to injury to the udder tissue.

Choosing a foundation

The foundation is considered the most important element for any typical structure. Ribbon, monolithic and columnar types are offered to farmers. The choice should be made based on the size of the constructed building.

For example, a small wooden shed can withstand even a budget pillar type of reinforcing surface, while a monolithic or strip foundation is suitable for a brick structure.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, a large barn is built by professional breeders, since in such a room it is quite problematic to regulate the lighting and a comfortable microclimate for animals.

In the process of laying the foundation, attention should be paid to the fact that the barn must be equipped with liquid collectors, into which the animal’s urine and manure will flow. The lower side of the slope of the structure should be at least 15 cm, and the optimal width can reach 30 cm.

Regardless of the size of a typical building, slurry with waste is changed at least once every 25-30 days.

Walk

If the cows are kept free-stall, then walking should take place daily. Walking independently in the pasture, cows feed naturally, consuming healthy, succulent feed. Fresh grass is full of vitamins and other beneficial substances that are necessary for proper growth.

Free-stall housing is carried out in late autumn and early spring. If walking takes place on artificial pastures, then they should be tied 5 meters from the peg, which should change its location from time to time.

Floors

First of all, the animal farm must meet the physiological needs of the livestock. Cows need a lot of space to roam. The optimal value is 500 m and above.

It is very important to keep a large barn clean, so breeders need to carefully select flooring materials. Construction elements must be wear-resistant and withstand strong mechanical pressure. The most common raw materials are:

• tree;
• concrete.

Each material has its own disadvantages and advantages, so before the final choice of raw materials for the construction of a standard structure, you should weigh the pros and cons.

Concrete flooring in a building where livestock lives is considered practical, but can harm the animals. The fact is that the surface is very cold and the consequences of keeping a cow in such conditions often lead to arbitrary abortions in cows. In order to prevent such circumstances, breeders need to create an additional substrate using hay.

The undoubted advantage of a concrete floor with additional insulation is that animals that stand in such conditions do not need to build slurry tanks; the farmer will only have to periodically change the hay.

Insulation can also be achieved using removable wooden boards. As a result of using this method, the shed will be easy to clean - you just need to wash the substrate well.

A wooden floor is certainly a good option for a mini-farm for cattle, because this material retains heat well and is considered environmentally friendly. A significant disadvantage of this coating is that it absorbs odors and it is almost impossible to get rid of the “odors.” Wood is better suited for a small shed due to the fact that it can crack when exposed to strong mechanical pressure. At the same time, individual sections of the floor can be easily replaced with new ones.

Home care

Proper care is important to increase the productivity and health of individuals in the household.

The choice and influence of proper nutrition

From April to the end of November, cows and bulls feed themselves on pastures, where they also receive a sufficient amount of water. As complementary food to improve productivity, you can introduce seasonal vegetables and potato peelings, melons, as well as two hundred grams of cattle feed per head into the daily diet. For the winter, livestock need to prepare hay and silage. A large animal eats up to twenty kilograms per day, a medium-sized animal eats up to fifteen. It is also recommended to enrich the diet with root vegetables, cutting them into small pieces, pumpkin, and combined feeds. It is also possible to introduce steamed porridge into the menu. Plenty of water must be given. It is advisable that she always be in drinking bowls.

Read about the cattle feeding diet at the link.

Table salt in briquettes should be a mandatory food additive. It will need to be purchased at a specialized store and installed directly in the barn for free access.

The grazing period of cows can change the upper and lower limits depending on the region and climatic conditions.

Prevention of cow diseases

An important preventive measure in the fight against common diseases is vaccination, which must be carried out starting from the age of two months. You will need to be vaccinated against pasteurellosis, brucellosis, foot and mouth disease, anthrax and rabies. To prevent many diseases, it is necessary to vaccinate cows in a timely manner.

In order to prevent the occurrence and development of infectious diseases, it is also important to keep the barns clean and dry. Once a week, it is advisable to treat the premises with slaked lime or caustic soda. In addition, it is important to prevent livestock from coming into contact with wild animals and rodents.

The health and well-being of cows must be systematically monitored. If you notice lethargy, refusal to eat, or discharge from the nose and eyes, you should call a veterinarian.

Sanitary and veterinary standards for cattle

In addition to a constant comfortable temperature (not lower than ten degrees Celsius), it is recommended to maintain a relative air humidity of at least forty percent and no more than eighty . In addition, it is important to pay attention to the fact that an area of ​​at least four square meters must be allocated for each individual.

It is recommended to keep young animals separately from adult animals. Infected and recovered individuals must be quarantined.

Walls

When constructing a standard structure for housing cattle, it is necessary to pay close attention to the choice of material from which the walls will be made. To create comfortable conditions, the following types of raw materials are most often used:

• brick;
• foam blocks;
• adobe;
• metal;
• tree.

The wayward cow does not tolerate the cold, so the room must be warm even on the harshest winter day. As with the choice of flooring, the breeder is advised to study the positive and negative sides of all types of building materials, and only then make a decision.

For small farms, a wooden barn is an ideal option. The structures are quickly constructed and, when individual parts of a small-sized wall wear out, they are easy to replace. Wood retains heat well, is resistant to moisture and does not emit harmful substances into the environment.

The walls in the building where cows live year-round can be made of brick. This material is suitable for use in large structures, as it is highly wear-resistant and does not absorb moisture. The only disadvantage of this choice is that such structures will have to be additionally insulated with glass wool.

The issue of using barns made of metal structures is quite controversial. The material, of course, is highly resistant to wind and moisture, but it does not retain heat inside the room at all. Such structures will need to be insulated on all sides, which will be very expensive.

Foam block walls are an ideal option for cow buildings. The given building material retains heat well, so additional insulation is not required. The only, but significant, disadvantage is that the design is not resistant to moisture and is not suitable for use in places where it often rains.

How to equip a shed?

The barn will definitely have feeders and drinking bowls for bulls, cows and calves. They are located throughout the barn so that there is excellent accessibility to them. The outside of the stall will be the best place to place feeders.

You can make feeders with your own hands. The height of its opposite sides will be 75 centimeters and 30. A low side will be located towards the side of the stall so that the bull can easily reach the food. The width of the feeder should be forty centimeters. At the top, the sides should be sixty centimeters apart from each other.

It is advisable not to place either the feeder or the drinking bowl on the floor. The optimal height of their location above the flooring is 7 or 10 centimeters. Before making a wooden feeder, you will need to sand all the boards so that the bull or cow does not get hurt.

It is advisable to hang the drinking bowl in the far corner. An automatic design is preferred, allowing livestock to drink as needed.

Using adobe

Almost any animal farm is equipped with structures partially made of adobe. This fact is explained by the fact that this material is inexpensive and at the same time has high wear resistance.

In addition, adobe is made from environmentally friendly raw materials and perfectly retains heat in rooms. It is for this reason that with the help of this material you can create a truly homely atmosphere for a cow. Animals in such a structure will feel good and will not freeze in winter.

In areas where cows live, adobe floors can also be installed. The only disadvantage of this solution is that cleaning the cow’s habitat will be quite problematic. But such a floor will not lead to frostbite of the animal and will withstand high mechanical pressure.

Milk storage

Despite the fact that raw materials are sent from farms to factories, they are also processed on site. All correctly performed operations at the initial stage will contribute to the preservation of the original properties of the product. Immediately on the farm, the milk produced is weighed. Then it is decanted through filters made of non-woven fabric or cotton wool.

Flannel or waffle fabric will eliminate mechanical impurities in the product. The rules for preserving milk require changing filters over each flask or bucket. Afterwards, they are immediately rinsed with running water. After finishing work, the fabrics are washed in a 5% solution of washing powder. The filters are then boiled and dried.

Centrifugal cleaners are better than filters at removing dirt from milk. In industry, it is customary to cool purified raw materials. The product can only be stored refrigerated, up to 4-6 degrees.

Important

The faster the temperature of the raw material decreases, the better its quality will be. Unrefrigerated milk is a good environment for harmful microflora. However, even a cold product, if it is not pasteurized, can only be stored for 72 hours. For longer preservation, heat treatment is important. Its goal is to reliably suppress harmful microbes.

There are several types of processing - pasteurization, sterilization, thermization. The first effect is related to temperature (its increase) and duration. There is short-term - 20 seconds, 75 degrees, long-term - 30 minutes, 60 degrees, instant - without exposure, 98 degrees.

The choice of mode is related to the properties of the product (quality, veterinary certificates, appearance, smell).

Unpasteurized milk cannot be sold in grocery stores. According to regulations, only products that have undergone heat treatment can be on the shelves.

Summer period for cows

Summer is considered the most favorite time of year for breeders, because it is at this time that it is easiest for cows to calve. Another undoubted advantage of the hot season is that cattle have free access to fields where fragrant fresh grass grows.

At the same time, cows really don’t like heat. Overheating may cause the cow to produce less milk or even get sick. After a long stay in the open sun, even a spacious yard with a green lawn will not help the animal.

In order to maintain the health of heifers and bulls, special sheds are built for them, which, like cowsheds, are equipped with drinking bowls and containers for feed. The animal feels comfortable under the roofs of such structures.

Peculiarities of keeping and breeding on a private farm

When building a farm, it is important for each farmer to choose the main direction of activity.

How to choose cattle productivity

The type of productivity of the cow is the direction that the breeder will need to choose. It all depends on what products need to be obtained during the production process. In cases where good milk yield is important, you should choose a dairy breed. Representatives of the varieties have a relatively small body weight (up to six hundred kilograms for cows and up to nine hundred for bulls), but with good feeding they can produce up to ten tons of milk per year or more.

Beef breeds produce enough milk to feed calves. However, dairy products are most often not enough for the breeder to consume. At the same time, the animals show excellent meat productivity characteristics. Cows of such breeds weigh up to eight hundred kilograms, bulls - up to one and a half tons. There are varieties that also produce elite marbled meats, which is an additional advantage.

Breeds of dairy productivity - high-yielding

Among the most productive and popular dairy breeds:

1. Dutch Cow . Average productivity is four to five tons of milk with a fat content of four percent per year. It is considered one of the most highly productive and is the ancestor of many other varieties of the same direction.
2. Black-and-white . Average productivity is three to four tons of milk per year. Widely distributed throughout the CIS countries.
3. Yaroslavskaya . The average milk yield is six tons of milk per year; cases of up to twelve tons are known. The breed is common in many regions of Russia and adapts well to any climatic conditions.
4. Kholmogorskaya. With good feeding, cows can produce up to six to seven tons of milk per year. The breed is one of the oldest that has survived to this day.

Representatives of dairy breeds produce mainly milk, but it is also possible to obtain meat from them, but in smaller quantities. Meat products from such animals have less fat content.

Pedigree beef cows

The best meat breeds produce juicy and tasty meat with a slaughter yield of at least sixty percent per carcass. Among the most productive:

1. Aberdeen Angus. Read about the Aberdeen Angus cow breed here. The weight of an adult cow reaches seven hundred kilograms, and that of bull calves – one ton. They have precociousness and a wild disposition.
2. Hereford . Females of the breed weigh more than six hundred kilograms, males - up to one and a half tons. Animals have excellent immunity, endurance, and unpretentiousness. The breed is distributed throughout Russia.
3. Aquitaine . The weight of cows reaches nine hundred kilograms, bulls - one and a half tons. The animals have well-developed muscles, the slaughter yield is more than sixty-five percent.
4. Kazakh white-headed . The weight of cows is up to six centners, bulls - up to a ton. The breed is hardy and unpretentious in feeding and maintenance, and is widespread in Russia. The lethal yield is up to sixty-five percent. Read about the Kazakh white-headed cattle breed here.

Construction stages

First of all, we start marking the boundaries of the future barn. To do this you need to stock up on rope and pegs. Strictly according to our markings, we dig trenches to fill the foundation. In the dug holes it is necessary to make a cushion of crushed stone and sand. As a rule, small stones, broken bricks, cement and water are used for the concrete mixture. The solution should be “thick sour cream.” To prevent such a batch from spreading in the dug trench, we make formwork from wooden boards. Now we can safely pour the solution. After pouring the foundation, work should be stopped for several days. If you want to make a rigid base, then you can use reinforcement for strengthening. Most often, metal rods with a diameter of 8–10 mm are used for this purpose. In order for the mixture to dry properly in hot weather, it must be moistened with water. We also recommend covering the entire perimeter with roofing felt.

Pregnancy and calving of cows

The duration of a cow's pregnancy is, like that of humans, 9 months; 2 months before the expected date of birth, the animal should stop milking. This is done to ensure that the calf is born healthy and strong. In addition, succulent feed is removed from the diet of a pregnant cow within a month and a half, and the amount of concentrated feed is reduced.

Hay and special vitamin supplements must be included in the diet of a pregnant cow; they will be beneficial to both the calf and its mother. A couple of weeks before giving birth, the cow will change her behavior. She moves away from other animals, lags behind them on the walk and begins to build a nest, pulling the bedding into a lump. This does not mean that the cow should be kept in a barn; walking is still necessary.

Just before giving birth, the cow is transferred to a separate room; the harbingers of childbirth are a drooping abdomen and a swollen udder. It must be disinfected, covered with hay and burlap. Light calving takes no more than 30 minutes. Immediately after birth, the calf should be wiped with a clean cloth, mucus should be cleared from the nose, ears and eyes, and the umbilical cord should be cut with sterile scissors.

Advantages and disadvantages

Raising and keeping cows on a private farm is a profitable, but labor-intensive activity. Cows need to be cleaned daily, feed and water changed, get up early in the morning to milk and feed the animal and take it out to pasture. If the animal is kept loose on a private farm, then the hassle is reduced. But when keeping them on pasture, you need to go with them for walking so that they don’t go far.

Advantages:

• in order to have several cows you will not need a lot of finances;
• there is no need to hire workers or purchase special expensive equipment;
• the ability to find a place for walking, since the livestock is small;
• the opportunity to find a good place to sell products;
• homemade milk and meat are valued much higher than those from large farms.

Flaws:

• the need to get up at dawn and carry out a number of manipulations;
• when keeping pastures, you should graze the cows and sit until the grazing is over, since the animals can go far;
• if a decision is made to breed more than 15 heads, then it is necessary to hire special workers.

Keeping cows on a private farm is profitable, but at the same time not easy. After all, animals require constant care, timely feeding, milking, cleaning and walking. But this business will pay off quickly; homemade meat and milk are valued higher than store-bought ones. If you properly care for and feed the animals, they will certainly please the owner with their productivity.

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