How to run a cow before calving: timing and rules at home

Start - stopping milking for a certain period of time before calving. The period when the cow is at the start is called dry, the animal's body is gaining strength before childbirth. Every farmer should know how to properly start a cow before calving in a gradual or forced way, since the manipulations performed affect the he alth of the newborn calf and milk production.

General rules for animal care

Milk production is stopped by a set of measures:

• change in diet;
• reducing the portion of drink;
• gradual cessation of milking;
• reducing grazing time in spring and summer.

Recommended launch date - winter months. In winter, the diet of cattle for natural reasons is poorer than in summer, the animals consume less liquid, as a result, it is possible to start the cow faster and easier. During the dry season, cattle should be kept in a dry and warm room. If the launch fell on summer days, then the duration of grazing should be no more than 4 hours a day.

It is extremely important to monitor the he alth of the cow's udder during the dry period. It must be regularly examined, palpated, washed, massaged before milking to prevent milk stagnation. Such manipulations reduce the likelihood of developing mastitis - inflammation of the mammary gland due to congestion.

Mastitis during the dry period is a frequent occurrence. Symptoms - swelling, redness, induration, soreness of the udder, curdled or flaky inclusions in milk, purulent and bloody discharge from the nipples.The cow becomes lethargic, refuses food, her body temperature rises. The farmer should call the veterinarian immediately.

Pre-Launch Factors

For each cow, the time when it needs to be launched is determined individually. At the same time, the following nuances are taken into account:

• age and physical condition of the animal;
• estimated calving date;
• milk.

Cow, pregnant for the first time, it is recommended to start 3 months before birth. A previously giving birth cow usually takes 2 months to rest. In animals with average milk production, milk production stops after a week from the start of the start. But high-yielding individuals often lack even half a month. In this case, farmers have to start the cow with a forced medical method.The udder of a dry cow shrinks, this is normal. Just before the birth, it will swell again, fill with milk.

Diet

Cattle's milk production is determined by the diet, milk production is stimulated by a high percentage of wet feed. To start cattle, reduce the production of milk in the mammary glands:

• significantly reduce the portion of juicy and concentrated food;
• Give more hay instead of reduced feed;
• reduce the amount of drink.

Water for pregnant cows is given warm, heated to a comfortable temperature, 3 times a day. You can not give animals cold or hot water to drink, this can provoke a miscarriage. The diet of a dry cow should be 30-50% succulent and concentrated feed, no more than 50 g of s alt.

Milking mode

Cow milking stops when milk synthesis stops, the udder shrinks. In animals that give up to 5 liters of milk per day, such changes are noted on the 5th day. But milking is completed on the 7th.

To start the cattle, they milk according to the regime indicated in the table.

+3+- 4 5 6 -+7 +

Day	Morning milking	Evening milking
1	+	+
2	+
+	-
-	+
-

Startup process

To start cattle with low or medium milk yield, a natural gradual method is applied. The drug forced method has to start a high-yielding cow when the natural method does not work. Do not be afraid of a decrease in profitability due to the dry period. Downtime will pay off, because a cow who has rested and gained strength after giving birth will significantly increase her milk production.

Gradual

In order to successfully gradually start a cow, introduce a lean diet based on hay and a small amount of liquid, and apply a lactation-reducing milking regimen, the scheme of which is given above.

Cattle with low productivity in summer should be on pasture no longer than 4 hours, with an average - 2 hours. High-yielding individuals should not be released to pasture at all during the launch period.

These activities ensure the successful launch of both low-yielding and high-yielding cattle. To launch highly productive individuals, the same milking principle is used, only the mode change is more extended. In the first few days, they are milked 2 times a day. When the amount of milk secreted decreases, they switch to milking once a day, according to this regime they milk for 4-7 days.Milking is completed after the cow's udder dries out, when the daily amount of milk produced is less than 0.5 liters.

Forced

When an animal gives a lot of milk, by the end of the run, lactation decreases, but does not end. A cow that gave 10 liters of milk gives 3-5 liters, that is, her body does not rest until the next calving.

To start a cow, block the work of the mammary glands, the following veterinary drugs are used at home:

• "Mastometrin";
• Orbenin EDC;
• Nafpenzal DC;
• Browmast.

The listed preparations are intended for injection. They not only block lactation, but also reduce the likelihood of developing mastitis during the dry period. The forced way to start a cow has several advantages:

• provides fast and 100% results;
• convenient for large livestock, where there are many pregnant individuals;
• reduces udder inflammation;
• prevents untimely transition of the animal to the dairy-free phase;
• economical (monetary loss is 4 times less compared to a standard launch).

Medicated start does not mean that you can quit other activities. When using medicines, cattle also need to be fed on a dry ration, to monitor the cleanliness and he alth of the udder.

Launch cows with high milk production

A cow with an average productivity (from 5 liters per day) should be started 2 or 2.5 months before the expected birth. An animal with high milk production (from 10 liters) should be started 3 months before the birth of a calf.

Regardless of livestock productivity; the dry period should not last less than 40 days.

While it takes a week for low-milking cows to go into the dry phase, it takes about 2 weeks to start medium-producing cattle. And high-yielding individuals need a long 3-week start, but even it turns out to be ineffective if the milk yield reaches 15 liters per day. The reason is that in such animals, milk synthesis decreases very slowly. Then medicines are used to stop the mammary glands.

The diet is changed immediately. But two-time milking at high productivity continues 4-6 days from the start of the launch, sometimes even longer. When the daily milk production is reduced to 3 liters, only then the cow is transferred to the standard transitional milking regimen shown in the table above. They stop milking highly productive cows, as well as ordinary ones, after the udder is reduced and the milk produced is reduced to 0.5 liters.

Consequences of late launch

The earlier you managed to start a cow, the better for her body. But it is unacceptable to do this abruptly. The reduction in milking should be gradual. A delayed or abrupt start results in:

• violation of intrauterine development of the calf;
• reduced milk production after calving.

The reverse situation also happens: spontaneous launch more than 3 weeks before the expected birth. The phenomenon is rare, associated with the individual characteristics of the animal's body, usually harmless both for the he alth of a pregnant individual and for a calf developing in the womb. In isolated cases, the premature shutdown of the mammary glands signals illness.

The problem of early start is only to reduce the period of milk production, which is unprofitable for the farmer.The owner should identify individuals prone to premature launch after the first calving, in the following pregnancies, feed them in abundance with juicy food, root crops. It is necessary to start the cow correctly and on time, regardless of the chosen method. The he alth of the calf and the amount of future milk production depend on the correctness of the activities.

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