Coweta before and after care: Coweta Before & After Care

There is an opinion that a calf should not be weaned early. If a cow feeds a baby for at least a week, then she gives more milk.

• Clean out the stall. On the floor, replace the bedding with a fresh one. Eliminate drafts.
• Check that the room temperature is not too different from the outside temperature. For example, in winter, the stall should not be very hot.
• The general good condition of the cow, the presence of appetite and normal body temperature indicate a favorable course of the postpartum stage. For cows, it varies from 37. 5°C to 39.5°C. The temperature of the cow is controlled for 5-7 days in order to diagnose latent infections of the udder or uterus in time.

The placenta should come out after the newborn calf. If this does not happen within 12 hours after birth, human assistance is required, as this is dangerous to the health of the animal. It is impossible to manually remove the placenta on your own; qualified medical assistance is needed here.

• After 3-4 days, if the cow feels well, she is released for a walk.
• After a week and a half, a healthy cow is transferred to the barn to the herd.
• On a large farm or industrial complex, the animal is examined by veterinarians beforehand.

How to milk a cow after calving

Milking after calving is an important point on which the maintenance of milk production depends. Of great importance is the first milk yield. Cows are rather shy animals, especially heifers. From ignorance of what happens to them after childbirth, they may be wary of the first milk.

In the first 3 months after calving, the maximum amount of milk is obtained from the cow. At this time, the animal gives more than 40% of the total milk yield. Errors in milking in the post-calving period are fraught with a decrease in the productivity of the cow as a whole.

It is important to observe strict principles here:

1. Do not approach a dairy cow abruptly. This will frighten the animal and affect the amount of milk.
2. It is imperative to bypass the animal and let it know that a person is nearby.
3. Move smoothly, make the milking process as soft as possible so as not to frighten the cow and not hurt her.
4. It is important to start milking the cow already on the day of calving in order to prevent the development of a stagnant process and mastitis.
5. After a week, milk is suitable for human consumption, it becomes more fat and high in calories. During this period, the cow must also be actively milked to increase its productivity.
6. You can then switch to gentle milking – three times twice a day.

How to care for the udder after calving

Heifers are the most difficult to milk due to udder swelling and inelastic teat skin. It is important that cows do not perceive milking as stress, but perceive the process as something natural. Due to rough handling in cows, milk sometimes burns out completely.

What to do:

1. Wash your hands. They should not be cold and rude.
2. Wash cow’s udder with warm water.
3. Wipe with a soft towel.
4. Gently massage the udder with both hands from top to bottom, first on one side, then on the other. The process should not take more than 30 seconds.
5. Repeat massage before pumping 4-5 times a day with a frequency of 2-3 hours.
6. The procedure will keep the elasticity of the udder and prevent the development of mastopathy, mastitis and other diseases.
7. Increases the amount of milk produced, calms the cow and improves her behavior during milking.
8. It is necessary to milk the cow immediately after the massage in order to maximize milk yield.

Cows often develop mastitis after calving. To avoid complications, you need to carefully and regularly check for seals and damage to the udder.

How to feed a cow

In the first day or two after lactation, it is worth giving the cow light food, for the digestion of which she will not spend much energy. For feeding cows on the first day after calving, you can use:

• compound feed for cows,
• well dried hay,
• oat flour based mash.

Fresh grass and fodder vegetables must be completely limited, as they have a negative effect on the productivity of cows.

During the milking period, the cow’s menu should be:

• hay,
• concentrates,
• potatoes in small quantities

It is imperative to include low-calorie compound feed in the diet. Compound feed manufacturers calculate their composition in such a way that proteins, vitamins and minerals are contained in the required ratio, which increases the fat content of milk and prevents weight loss of newborn cows.

What health problems cows should be aware of

After the birth of a calf, the cow’s health should be carefully monitored. During this period, their immunity is weakened, infections can easily join and complications develop.

It is necessary to pay attention to the health of the cow if:

• the animal’s appetite worsens, or it refuses to eat at all,
• udder enlarges, becomes hard and painful,
• cow does not get up,
• she is depressed,
• temperature rises,
• have vaginal discharge,
• the condition of the teeth worsened. They wobble or fall out,
• Burenka is losing weight,
• there are blood impurities in the urine, this may indicate internal bleeding.

In conclusion

In the postpartum period, the cow needs maximum care. To increase its productivity, you need to follow:

• for hygiene in the room where she lives,
• be attentive to the first milking and to the subsequent milking,
• monitor your health and contact your veterinarian immediately if you have any concerns,
• formulate the correct diet so that the cow receives all the necessary nutrients.

Related materials

• How to increase milk yield?
• How to increase the average daily weight gain of a calf from an early age?

To articles

How to Milk a Cow After Calving – Tips and Features

Most people who buy milk from the shops believe that a cow has been producing it all her life continuously. In fact, milk production in cattle has its own cycle, which, like in humans, depends on the birth of a child. Just like humans, cows also experience lactation problems in the postpartum period. In order for the cow’s milk to be fatty and not to be wasted, the owner must follow all the rules for keeping livestock. The main one is the correct distribution.

There is a rule among livestock breeders: 1.5-2 hours after birth, milk the queen. But before that, you need to make sure that the birth went well and perform all hygiene procedures. This is to prevent infection from entering the body. It is also important to water the animal and give it dried grass to eat. The performance of the heifer in the future depends on these actions.

Let’s consider in more detail all the necessary actions of the owner immediately after the birth of the calf:

1. It is necessary to vigorously rub the back of the cow with a hard massage brush. If there is no brush, make a lump of hard hay. This is required so that the contraction of the uterus occurs more quickly and the blood flows from it.
2. The mammary glands, vagina and skin around them are disinfected with a solution of furacilin or potassium permanganate. Then wipe with a soft cloth. Give the female plenty of water to drink (about one and a half buckets). The water should be warm, and up to 200 g of ordinary salt is stirred in it. Also, sugar is used instead of salt (0.5 kg is given for 10 liters of water).
3. Next, the uterus is given food. It can be a steamed oatmeal mash, a thin bran-oat mix, or good hay. Fresh grass is not provided.
4. If the mammary glands of a cow are swollen and hardened, it is necessary to download colostrum from them immediately after calving. It needs to be drained completely. It is impossible to use such milk, it is poured out. If you give it to a calf, drugs or an infection will enter the body, from which the baby can get sick, or even die.

A calf is not allowed near a uterus with mastitis, despite the fact that only it can milk a large udder so well and quickly.

But the most terrible complication after calving will be a coma of a dairy cow or paresis. This disease develops on a neurological basis and has symptoms such as staggering, trembling in the legs, and even paralysis. If a cow that has just given birth lies with its neck arched or has the listed signs, it is urgent to call a veterinarian. The doctor uses the technique of inflating the udder with air so that the brain receives the “necessary” impulse. If the result is good and the animal is firmly on the limbs, then two hours after that, you can start milking.

What to do when a cow is milking?

Proper feeding starts as early as 60 days before the birth of the calf. Starting from this period, the animal switches to an enhanced, more wholesome diet. So the uterus does not spend internal reserves on carrying a baby, but gets everything it needs with food.

In order for the lactation of a calving cow to give the maximum amount of milk, the owner needs to do the following:

• move the animal to live in a warm, dry place where there are no drafts;
• ensure that cow litter is clean to avoid the risk of microbial contamination of the udder;
• every day to examine the udder, if there are any swelling, hardening on it. Especially the first three days after childbirth, control that there is no colostrum stagnation;
• transfer the animal to additional food, but do not overdo it so that the uterus does not get fat;
• do not forget to give the cow plenty of water and more liquid food. Good milk production depends on this;
• strictly adhere to the milking schedule, adding udder massage to it.

After calving, the milking regimen plays an important role in the development of lactation. On farms, women in labor are settled separately from the rest of the herd for 3 months, or even more. They milk everyone exactly at the same time. Milking occurs more often than in ordinary cows: every 3 hours. In general, the distribution of young animals is not much different, it only requires more care and attention.

Consider carefully how a farmer with a primiparous heifer should act:

• for the first two or three weeks, the young mother is fed a little less, so that there is no upset of the gastrointestinal tract and the udder does not swell;
• when it is already clear that the birth went well and the female feels well, she is transferred to advanced nutrition. Vegetables and animal feed are added to food;
• introduce concentrated feeds gradually, as lactation increases, and stop giving them when lactation is stable;
• after 10 days of good milking, the cow is already given the usual portion of food;
• at this time cows should definitely eat green meadow grass;
• every one and a half weeks, tests are carried out on the amount of proteins and fats in milk;
• at the end of milking it will be clear what productivity each individual has. Consider the volume of milk per day and the ease of its pumping.

When the owner can predict daily how many liters of milk a cow will give for each milk yield, we can assume that the milking time is over. Since then, the animal has been kept together with the rest and receives ordinary feed.

Problematic moments after calving

In a cow that gives a good milk yield, as well as in a primiparous heifer, the udder often swells after giving birth. This is fraught with various diseases. Usually after 4-5 days the swelling subsides. In these first 5 days, in order not to harm, liquids should be given less. This means not only drinking less, but also not giving a lot of juicy food. Gentle massage of swollen glands can save the situation. It should be done very often, and the movements of the fingers should be from the nipples up to the udder. The massage imitates the touch of a calf when it begins to suck on the udder. These stimuli release the hormone oxytocin. He takes part in the production of milk. During milking, half of the volume of milk is in tanks, but the remaining half requires the production of oxytocin. This is why it is so important to gently massage the udder before milking.

If all manipulations fail, absorbable ointments and emollient creams are used. You can’t prescribe them on your own, you need a doctor to examine the woman in labor.

How many times a day to milk a cow

The first seven days after birth, the uterus is milked 4-5 times a day. This happens every 4-5 hours. At night, a cow should not be unmilked for more than 10 hours in a row, otherwise stagnation will occur.

The pumping of milk from the glands must always occur at the same time, through the same time intervals. If the milk production is unstable, make an additional milking between the main milking. Pudding is best done with a milking machine. It is not worth rushing to reduce the number of daily milking, especially if the cow gives a lot of milk. You can use three times lactation as early as 7 days after calving. If a heifer gives milk 10 liters. per day, it is enough to milk it twice.

As far as machine milking is concerned, it is considered safer, since the udder can be easily damaged by pinching it with hands. But with mastitis, the milking unit is not used.

How to care for and what to feed a cow?

Birthing care is about balanced feeding, cleanliness and milking routine. We mentioned these points earlier. Also, in order to prevent various infections from clinging to the animal, it must necessarily lick the newly born cub. The mucus that covers the calf is rich in specific hormones, due to which lactation and the metabolic process occur in the body of the woman in labor. Already after 30 min. after calving, mothers are given wholesome food. Usually it is a diluted mash of wheat bran, good hay, green dried grass.

Postpartum food allowance is calculated based on cow mobility. The calmer ones get less food. The norm of cereals and legumes per day is determined based on how much the animal weighs and how much milk it gives. Cows receive water at this time in free access. The female may lose some weight at first, this is normal. If the cow continues to lose weight, and gives milk as before, you need to give her more nutritious feed. It is also worth controlling the weight of the animal so that, on the contrary, it does not get fat. This is unprofitable for the farmer, since such cattle gives little milk.

When can I start drinking milk?

The first 5 days after childbirth, colostrum flows from the nipples.