Cow gives milk: at what age does it start and how it is formed, what you need

A cow is able to give milk only after calving. This animal is not a dairy machine. In the body of cattle, certain physiological processes take place, milk appears when you need to feed the calf. The stomach of a newborn is not able to digest plant foods. This possibility occurs in the animal at 3-4 months of life. The man took advantage of this feature and began to select milk intended for calves.

When does a cow start giving milk?

A cow's milk appears immediately after birth, but not before, since the female does not milk without a calf.Puberty in animals occurs at 8-10 months. True, females are ready for mating (insemination) only in the second year of life. Body weight for heifers at this age should be at least 330 kg.

Pregnancy (pregnancy) in females lasts 9 months. Immediately after covering, the body of a young heifer undergoes changes, the mammary glands are preparing to produce milk. If a dairy cow is pregnant, then after insemination she is milked as usual, and two months before birth, they are started, that is, they are transferred to dead wood and milking is stopped.

During this period, the animal is given less succulent feed and water, milked less frequently, leaving part of the milk in the udder to inhibit the milk ejection reflex. After giving birth, a dairy cow is milked and milked as usual.

The lactation period in animals lasts 12-14 months. It is constantly extended by the next hotel. Cows are fertilized, as a rule, two months after the birth of the calf. Without childbirth, that is, without calving, a cow does not give milk.Lactation occurs only after the birth of a calf. It can last up to 5 years, but females are inseminated every year. The more often a cow gives birth, the more milk she gives. Productivity peaks after the birth of the fifth calf.

One more thing - the older the cow, the more milk she gives. Young animals are not as productive. They give only 10-12 liters of milk per day, and a cow over 5 years old - 20-30 liters of milk per day.

Where does it come from?

Cow is a ruminant animal that feeds on grass and hay. The food enters the scar, then burps, chews again and again returns to the anterior sections and to the stomach itself. Cattle eat 7-8 hours a day and the same amount of time is spent on chewing food. Through the walls of the stomach and intestines, the released nutrients enter the bloodstream.

During the digestion of feed, a large amount of gas is released, which the cow burps.Nutrients that enter the bloodstream are carried throughout the body of cattle. They are used as energy and building material, and for milk production. True, lactation in an animal for the first time begins only after the birth of a calf.

Milk is produced by the epithelial cells of the alveoli, which are located in the udder. It is taken, or rather, it is formed from nutrients that enter the mammary glands from the blood. To produce milk, ordinary proteins, fats and carbohydrates are used. The composition of this product depends on the diet of the animal. It is excreted from the udder due to the milk ejection reflex. With a slight irritation of the nerve endings in the walls of the nipples, the flow of nerve impulses rushes to the brain and hypothalamus, as a result of which the hormone oxytocin is released. With the blood flow, it enters the mammary gland and causes contraction of myoepithelial cells.

The resulting milk enters the cavity of the alveoli, ducts and udder tanks. If the udder is full, secretory functions are suspended. Although milk can be produced continuously, the secretion process begins immediately after the cow is milked. That is why it is so important to milk the animal to the end. When the tanks are released, a signal is given to produce a new portion of milk. In stressful situations, on the contrary, the hormone adrenaline is formed, which leads to contraction of the muscles of the milk passages and inhibits the milk ejection reflex. It is undesirable to scare cattle before milking, otherwise it will not give milk.

How to help product launch

Milk, or rather, at first colostrum, appears in cattle after calving. It is recommended that the animal be milked immediately after giving birth, completely freeing the udder tanks to stimulate the production of a new portion of the product.

The amount of milk is affected by feed, its quality and quantity, as well as regular milking (3 times a day at the same time).

The basis of the diet of cows is grass, hay, haylage, silage. Bulk feed is needed for the coordinated work of the digestive system of cattle. The volume of milk production depends on their quantity. Root crops have a milk-making effect. It is for this reason that farmers try to feed their cows with fodder beet tops and grated vegetables. Grain mixtures, on the contrary, reduce milk yield, but increase the weight of animals.

In order for a cow to regularly give a lot of milk, she must have a good appetite. Yeast probiotics help to improve this indicator. The cow should eat plenty, that is, eat at least 50 kg of grass per day. In half-starved animals, milk yield is usually low. Water affects milk production. Twice a day, cattle should drink 30-40 liters of fluid.Lactation in a cow lasts a long time, almost a year. It is extended after the next calving.

What affects milk quality?

The quality of milk produced in the mammary glands is affected by several factors: feed, cattle care, cow he alth. Animals are encouraged to organize pasture grazing during the warm season.

During grazing, cows receive high-grade proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and microelements. Desirable vegetation - legume-cereal grasses 15 cm high.

During the grazing period, animal he alth improves, productivity increases. True, during grazing, you need to make sure that the cow does not eat wild radish, buttercups, rape, colza, field mustard. These herbs give a bitter taste to dairy products. Vegetables such as turnips, rutabaga, turnips, garlic, onions, fennel, cabbage worsen the quality of milk. The presence of pepper mountaineer in the diet can color dairy products bluish, and Ivan da Marya or maryannik will give a bluish tint.By eating buttermilk, cattle produce sticky milk.

Feed fed to animals all year round affects the quality of dairy products. If cattle are given too much cake, then the butter turns out to be soft and quickly spoiled, and the milk is not suitable for making cheeses (it does not coagulate well under the action of rennet). For the same reason, it is not recommended to graze animals in swampy areas.

Soft butter is obtained when animals graze in the meadow, while hay and grain, on the contrary, give this product hardness. As for the content of cattle, if cows are milked in a dirty barn, then the milk picks up the smell of manure.

Can a cow give milk without calving?

A cow is an animal that produces milk in order to feed the calves that are born into the world.Cubs eat this product up to 3-4 months. Immediately after the birth of the calves, the female is milked several times a day, which makes the body think that the newborn is constantly lacking milk. Thanks to regular milking, the udder tanks fill up.

If cattle are not milked for several days, the milk will be lost until the next calving. In order for the female to be constantly milked, she must give birth every year. There is no milk without the birth of a calf. A cow incapable of pregnancy is called barren. Such an animal is sent to slaughter for meat.

Problems of low and dairy-free milk supply

A few days after the birth of a calf, a cow gives the most milk. After 6 months, productivity begins to drop sharply, and after 300 days, lactation may stop. To increase the milk yield, it is recommended to inseminate the female again two months after calving.

True, she will give more milk only after childbirth. The cow needs to be milked regularly, without interruptions, three times a day. It is recommended to empty the udder completely. If for some reason (prolonged starvation, stress, climate change, mastitis) a cow gives little milk, you need to cure the cattle, adjust the diet and continue to milk the animal. Over time, productivity will improve.

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