Hi everyone! My name is Morgan Rocks and I am a sophomore animal science student here at UMaine. I, like many others, am a part of UMADCOWS, the dairy cattle management lab. In this course, a large component of caring for the dairy cows, heifers, and calves is proper nutrition. Just like people, dairy cattle require a balanced diet. While our diets require us to eat the proper amounts of fruits and vegetables in a day, for the cows at the Witter Center it is slightly different. Cows require 6 essential nutrients to thrive: carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water. Our cows receive all of these nutrients on a daily basis from a variety of sources in their food and access to water. By creating a balanced and proper diet, it makes our cows productive, healthy, and most importantly happy. For our girls in the dairy barn, they receive siligage once a day and grain twice a day. Some cows get BPF added to their grain, this is an additive that provides long chain fatty acids from palm oil to meet their nutrient requirements for maintenance, growth, reproduction and production. They also have continuous access to fresh water through special bowls with water valves that they control. The calves have a varying feeding schedue that depends upon their age and sex. The young calves receive either milk or milk replacer three times a day while the older calves only receive it twice a day. Milk replacer is similar to that of formula for human babies, it is a balanced and nutritious milk supplement (made from real milk!) that ensures our babies are getting all of their nutritional requirements met. They are also given grain, hay, and water to consume whenever they like. Lastly our dairy cattle in the livestock barn are given silage in the morning to eat throughout the day as well as continuous fresh water. The goal of the dairy cattle in the livestock barn is to grow and mature so they can become a productive member of the Witter Center.
0 Comments
You may have wondered what goes on in the morning at Witter Farm for our ladies in the dairy barn. Just like the milkers, the cows have an early start to their day! While the regular morning milking begins at 4:30, the work day begins around 3:45. First, all the girls must stand up to allow their beds to be scraped and cleaned out. Some of them may be a little sleepy, but others are already wide awake. After the system is sanitized and ready, milking begins. Each cow waits her turn to be milked. There are a few steps to milking, and it begins with applying a predip to the teats. This predip, which is a blue foaming liquid, removes any bacteria that may have found its way onto the teat. This is done to prevent mastitis, which is an infection of the udder. Next, milk is stripped out of each teat five times. This stimulates milk letdown and will allow the milker to check the stream of milk to make sure there are no signs of mastitis. In most cases, the milk will look normal and the teats will be dipped with the predip once again. After waiting for 30 seconds, the milker will wipe the teats until they are completely clean and dry. The unit will be placed on the udder, and the cow will chill out while getting milked… unless it’s Ramen, then the unit will get kicked off the second the milker turns their back. After they have been milked, postdip will be applied to each teat, which is a brown, thick liquid. This will prevent bacteria from entering the open teat. Once everyone has been milked, the girls will get outdoor time and enjoy the sunrise, as well as the view overlooking the field! During their outdoor privileges, a milker will sit by the pen and watch for signs of heat for 20 minutes. Watching for heat is very important in order to breed a cow at the right time. Cows that are in heat will be very active during this time. Some signs of heat will include mounting, head butting, restlessness, and increased vocalizations. If a cow isn’t in heat, she’ll simply go about her business, investigating her surroundings. Check out to see what the girls were up to Tuesday morning! Just a typical Tuesday morning. Meet Ava, one of our heifers! She just started the milking routine 3 weeks ago. She has done an incredible job adjusting to life in the dairy barn! Ava is always very friendly, and loves to seek attention. These two are trying to show each other who’s boss. Damsel, another heifer, is on the left, and Rifles is on the right. Others prefer scratching themselves on the brushes. Rifles must've given up fighting with Damsel in favor or scratching. It was a slow morning for Heather... Blue and Ava… Why don’t you pick on someone your own size, Blue?! The wise PoohBear is much nicer to the heifers than Blue. Ava appears to appreciate this. After heat watch, the girls begin gathering around the gate to go back inside. Once the milkers are ready, they are brought back inside to fresh, new bedding! They get clipped in, and get fed later in the morning. What a great start to the day! |
Archives
March 2022
Categories |