How much milk can a cow give per day, which affects milk yield?
Proteins, fats and carbohydrates contained in cow's milk make this product valuable and even irreplaceable for humans, so many livestock breeders have cows on their farm. Having decided to acquire such a cattle, you should know how much milk a cow gives per day and whether it is possible to influence these processes.
How much milk does a cow give per day
In order to provide yourself and your family with milk, you need to understand some issues of keeping and caring for animals, because their productivity depends on these factors.
When milk is produced in cows
Keeping cows on a farm is not easy, but profitable, and most often this profit is associated with obtaining milk. Farmers who know about the intricacies of keeping these animals can easily calculate how much milk a cow gives on average. This question is one of the most important in farming. A person who does not understand the maintenance of these animals tends to think that milk is produced from cows all year round.
Such assumptions are wrong. Like all mammals, milk in cows begins to be produced in the last months of pregnancy or after calving, and the man himself, over thousands of years lived side by side with this animal, has learned to maintain the lactation process for a long time for his own purposes.
What determines the milk yield and its amount
How much milk a cow gives per day is influenced by many factors. Milk progress in keeping cows on a farm can only be obtained with long-term maintenance of these animals, because milk yield is influenced not only by proper care, but also by the age of the cow, therefore, deciding to acquire these livestock, you need to know about the main factors affecting productivity:
- Genetic predisposition. Dairy cows will please the owner more with milk yield than others.
- The age of the cow. If the fertilization of a cow takes place annually, then she will give the largest number of liters of milk after the fifth or sixth calving.
- Diet. Proper and balanced nutrition is essential to maintain milk production and quality.
- Correct care.
- Milking features. A few days after fertilization, the number of milk yields is reduced. The burenka must learn to bear the fetus. The production of milk by her body gradually decreases, and when its amount does not exceed 500 ml per day, milk yield is stopped until calving. The day after giving birth, the first milking is organized.
- Animal immunity. The healthier the livestock, the more milk the cow gives.
How many liters of milk a cow gives per day is also influenced by the time of year at calving. Performance is lower in winter. Even after the first calving, the volume of milk produced on a winter day will be 10% lower than on a spring, summer or autumn.Any breed of animals lends itself to these laws of nature, and experienced farmers skillfully use it to their advantage.
Choose a breed for home keeping
Long-term keeping of cows at home influenced the formation of a TABLE of volumes of milk received, by which it is possible to understand which breed has the greatest potential.
The most famous record-breaking cows are:
- Holstein breed - up to 110 kg of milk per day.
- Yaroslavskaya - up to 65 kg.
- Kholmogorskaya - up to 80 kg.
But a novice livestock breeder should not be guided by obtaining such a number of liters. All this data is the result of painstaking maintenance and care of perennial cows. Not everyone can organize the care necessary for such productivity, therefore experts advise not to focus on the most famous dairy breeds when choosing, but to choose those that will feel confident in certain territorial and climatic conditions.
Secrets from experienced breeders
When choosing a breed of animal for keeping, you should follow the advice of experienced farmers. How many liters of milk a cow gives per day is influenced by the appearance of the heifer and her anthropometric data. The largest volume of milk produced by their owner will please cows with:
- an elongated body with depressions on the sides of the abdomen.
- long legs and small head;
- thin neck and folded skin;
- flat back and oblique ribs;
- an even, clean udder.
Having decided to purchase a cow in the first year of life, it is necessary to determine how many flaws it has that may affect its productivity indicator. Particular attention is paid to the appearance of the animal. A heifer will not give large volumes of milk if the animal has:
- rough skin and flabby physique;
- narrow head;
- small udder.
The character of the animal is also important. Only a calm cow will please with milk yield and will not bring problems in keeping.
Determining the portrait of the best cow for home keeping
When choosing an animal, it is important how much milk a cow gives per day. This main criterion will affect the characteristics of the heifer, as well as the fact that all this milk is a product for feeding calves. This feature must always be taken into account. A first-calf or a cow that has already given birth many times can please the milk yield only after calving, until the next bearing of the fetus.
The taste of the resulting product, as well as its fat content, are no less important. They completely depend on the diet of the animal and the conditions of its maintenance. In addition, the fat content may change during milking. The low-fat product is removed first. The lower it is in the udder, the fatter it is. The fattest is the bottom milk. It is required to milk every drop so that no stagnation occurs in the udder.
But there are also physiological features of the percentage of fat content of milk in cows. They all depend on the time elapsed from the birth of the calves. In the first month after calving, the product has the maximum fat content. From the second month, this indicator decreases, but the cow has a higher productive potential: it gives more liters of product per day. At 4-5 months, milk is produced more slowly with a high volume of cream. Production decreases gradually
Milk calculations
The answer to the question of how many liters of milk a dairy cow gives is of concern to anyone who decides to keep these animals at home. For the convenience of counting, it is best to take one cow. On average, a dairy breed produces 5000 liters per season, a successful result often found in urban areas. If we translate it into a daily volume, then farmers with such a productivity of cows receive 17 liters per day. This figure is almost 2 times higher than the real course of affairs.
And how many liters will be shown by one individual heifer in rural areas, because ecology and nutrition play an important role not only in the quality of the product obtained, but also in its quantity.In addition, productivity indicators are unstable and constantly change over the day, week, month, and even over the season. The fact is that the declared performance characteristic is the average volume of the product falling on the period of maximum lactation.
Daily milk yield
On average, calculations of productivity per cow are not made in the first year of her life, since they are not maximum, but novice farmers need to understand that even the most dairy breeds (Holstein, Yaroslavl, etc.) will not please with a large volume of product. On average, on the first day of birth, a young heifer gives 8-9 liters in 12 hours.
Some farmers manage to get up to 12 liters from the first lactation period. The largest milk yield is considered, which occurs in the 5-6 year of a cow's life (subject to her annual calving). By this time, farmers receive 15-18 liters of the product.
Calculations for longer periods of time
If the animal gives 10 liters. milk per day, it is easy to calculate how much it will give per week.
Days must be multiplied by the average daily volume. So, with 10 liters per week, farmers can get 70 liters of product. For months and seasons, such calculations do not apply, since the amount of milk received is influenced by the feeding, maintenance and physiological characteristics of the cows.
From the first day from the birth of a calf, the volume of milk can be 8 liters, and after a week - 12. And in the fifth and sixth year, the largest indicator may be 20 liters, therefore monthly and seasonal calculations are considered approximate, rounding them up or down.
Milk in winter
In winter, the food of cows has fewer vitamins and minerals useful for the health of the animal, which cannot but affect the milk yield, therefore the answer to the question of how much milk a cow gives in winter depends on the time when the calving itself took place. If the calf is born in summer or autumn, then the lactation period will also fall on the winter.
Milk in winter in any year of a cow's life has fewer nutrients than in any other season. Milk yield also decreases, so many farmers try to pre-set cows for dead wood: to prepare them for bearing fruit.