Sunday, January 11, 2015

Some Information Pertaining To Dairy Cows

By Lianne Derocco


In the United States, about 21 billion gallons of milk each year is produced, and these are coming from about 60,000 dairy farms in the country. These are integral parts of one of the nation's most important industries however, the dairy cows in these farms. These are important cows and the following are some specific information about them.

A good part of the dairy farms in the US are family owned of which each of these farms has about 130 dairy cows average, and these are producing up to 7 gallons of milk per cow each day. There are also small dairies with about a dozen cows only and also there are few with thousands of these dairy cows. Most of the nation's dairy cows can be found either in California or in Wisconsin. These cows are typically milked twice a day and these cows typically weigh about 1400 pounds.

The Holstein breed is the most common breed in the US and these were first bred in Holland, although there are also several different kinds of breeds of dairy cows. The Ayrshire breed, one coming originally from Scotland is also another breed that can be found. Another type of cow that can be found here originally hails from Switzerland and is one of the world's oldest breed of dairy cows, and this is the Brown Swiss breed. Other breeds that originated from England can be found here include the Guernsey breed and the Jersey breed.

Cows only have one stomach but with four compartments, of which each compartment have specific functions in the food processing, and this is contrary to popular belief that cows have four stomachs. About 100 pounds each day is typically consumed by each dairy cow. Silage, hay, grains and a few other sources of proteins are typically these combinations of the food consumed. Corn and preserved grains are those contained in silage.

Typically, a dairy farmer has many concerns including feeding and caring of the dairy cows each day, and this also includes harvesting of milk daily. Each of the cows produce several gallons of milk each day but in addition to this, the cows also produce a lot of waste each day and part of the farmer's job is removing of these wastes and storing these in the lagoons or waste pits.

While this agricultural waste can be used as a fertilizer for crops, there are many common problems associated with waste. These problems include the solidifying of waste at the bottom of a lagoon or pit, causing a heavy sludge layer or the crusting of the top layer. Pit foaming is another common problem. Natural products such as Agra Sphere and Activator use naturally occurring bacteria to eat away at sludge and crust and also to reduce foaming. These manure treatments contain no chemicals only bacterial microbes which act as a manure digester. These products also improve the nutrient value of the waste, making it a better fertilizer.




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