Good Dairy Farming Practices

August 19, 2022

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Good Dairy Farming Practices

Ajayvir Singh Sirohi, Indu Devi, Rajiv Ranjan, Sumit Mahajan Megha Pande and Abhijit Mitra

ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cattle,

Grass Farm Road, Meerut Cantt 250001 UP

Introduction

Dairy farming plays a significant role in generating gainful employment and food security for millions of people in our country. India is bequeathed with a vast diversity of cattle genetic resources registering 50 indigenous cattle breeds spread in various agro- climatic regions of the country. According to 20^th livestock census, India possessed 193.46 million cattle comprising 142.11 million indigenous/non-descript and 51.63 million crossbred /exotic heads. Our country is the top milk producer country in the world since 1998. At the time of independence, India had milk production of only 17 million tons, which has increased up to 209.96 million tons in 2020-21 and per capita, milk availability is around 427grams/day (DAHD, 2022). Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has also narrated that India produces milk worth Rs. 8.5 lakh crore annually, more than wheat and rice combined, and that small farmers benefit the most from the dairy industry. The support of the Indian government through the implementation of various dairy development programmes and great efforts by dairy farm owners have shown their calibre to achieve such targets in this sector. Good dairy farming practices on scientific lines help livestock owners in keeping animals healthy and economic milk production. This article explains scientific dairy farm management practices in different sections with special reference to cattle production in our country.

A. Cattle housing management

Comfortable livestock housing is a prerequisite for getting maximum production and keeping dairy animals healthy. The optimum ambient temperature range for crossbred cattle is 13-18 °C in the shed and a drop in milk production results in temperatures exceeding 25°C. The loose housing is ideal for tropical areas under different agro-climatic zones. BIS has recommended floor space requirements for different categories of dairy animal (Table 1).

Table 1: Floor, Feeding and Watering Space Requirements* of Dairy Animals

S. No.	Type of animal	Floor space (m2)/animal		Feeding manger space/animal (cm)	Water trough space/animal (cm)	Mode of housing
S. No.	Type of animal	Covered area	Open area	Feeding manger space/animal (cm)	Water trough space/animal (cm)	Mode of housing
1	Young calves (<8 weeks)	1.0	2.0	40-50	10-15	Individuals or in groups<5
2	Older calves (>8 weeks)	2.0	4.0	40-50	10-15	Groups of <15
3	Heifers	2	4.0-5.0	45-60	30-45	Groups of <25

Adult

cows

3.5

7.0

60-75

45-60

Groups of

40-50

Down

calver

20-25

60-75

Individual

* Based on lSI Standards for housing in India

Figure 1: Design of a loose housing

The cows are milked in batches in the milking barn. There shall be individual stanchions (number can vary) in each row, tail to tail. The width of each stanchion is 1.2 meters and the length 1.6 metres with a 1.3 metres wide central passage.

Shelter requirements

Floor: The floor should be hard, impervious, easy to clean and non-slippery. Which can be of

Cement concrete, (ii) Brick on edge, (iii) Stone slab flooring, (iv) Kanker flooring. The open area in the paddock can be left kachcha for proper resting for the animals. The required slope is 1:60 in the open paddock and 1:40 in the covered
1. Cement concrete flooring is suitable for milking barns, calf pens, calving pens, etc where regular washing is essential. About 6 inches thick, bedding of paddy straw or other locally available dry crop residues should be used for lying
2. The drains should be U-shaped, 30 cm wide and 6 to 8 cm deep for proper cleaning of

Roof: The roof should be light, strong, durable, weather-proof and bad conductor of heat. Materials used for constructing roofs generally include galvanized sheets or asbestos sheets or tiles or thatch etc., according to the availability in the local area. Roof insulation is required especially during thermal stress to reduce the heat load on animals. In a hot dry climate, more ceiling height is recommended i.e., about 5 to 6 meters for the elimination of radiation heat load.

B. Feeding management

In general 2/3 rd of the total cost of rearing accounts for feeding. Therefore, careful feeding management is an important aspect of profitable dairy farming. A balanced diet must be provided to all the animals under different categories. The ration should comprise of green fodder, concentrate and dry roughages. Preferably, 2/3rd of the total requirement of dry matter (DM) should be met through seasonal cereal and leguminous green fodder and dry roughages. The remaining 1/3rd should be fed through a concentrate mixture. As a thumb rule, the concentrates should be fed to cows, yielding more than 5 kg of milk daily at a rate of 1 kg concentrate mixture for every 2.5 kg milk produced over 5 kg. In high producing cows (>20 litres/day) supplementation with vegetable oils/fats in their diets at the rate of 200-300 g/day is desired depending upon milk production. Salt and mineral supplements should be given to maintain lactation.

Calf feeding schedule

The suggestive feeding schedule for calves is given in Table 2. It is of utmost importance to ensure colostrum feeding to calves within the first 2 hours of birth.

Table 2: Calf feeding schedule upto three months

Age (days)	Colostrum	Whole milk		Skim milk		Calf starter (g)		Roughage
0-4	1/10 of B.wt	–		–		–		–
5-12		1/20 B.wt	of	1/20 B.wt	of	To induced	be	Ad-lib
13-20		1/40 B.wt	of	3/40 B.wt	of	50-100		-do-
21-30				1/12 B.wt	of	250		-do-
31-40				1/12 B.wt	of	500		-do-
41-60				1/15 B.wt	of	750		-do-
61-90				1/20 B.wt	of	800		-do-

Source: Dairy Bovine Production Book (by Thomas & Sastry)

Calf starts eating a small amount of dry starter and roughage feed from the 2^nd week of Calf starter as a creep feed might be fed on a free choice basis until the calf starts consuming about 1-1.5 kg mix a day after which the quantity is restricted. Generally, a calf reaches that stage by 2.5 to 3 months of age.
Feeding of calf from 3 months to 6 months: The calf is generally weaned from milk feeding at 3 months of age. The growing calf needs DMI @ 2.5-2.7% of body weight. Calves in this age group may be fed 0.75 to 1.5 kg concentrate mixture per day. For a calf in normal condition, 1 kg concentrate/day can be fed for every 100 kg body

C. Breeding management

Regular maintenance of lactation is primarily based on the reproductive performance of a dairy cow. A manager needs to manage the service period for proper calving interval (CI). Timely heat detection and breeding of animal helps in managing the service period.

Under normal circumstances, an animal should come into heat within 45 days of It is recommended to breed the animal in the subsequent oestrus after the first heat or within 60-90 days after calving.
Dairy animals must be observed for heat signs twice daily. The simplest method to detect an animal in heat is by visual observation of cardinal signs of heat. Efficient heat detection at the dairy farm is by a teaser bull. It is best to fix the time of detection in the early morning (before morning milking) and late evening (after the feeding).
The most prominent heat sign in cows is, standing on other animals and standing to be The cow allowing the other animals to mount on it is in proper heat and can be inseminated while the cow that mounts on another animal might be in the early or late phase of estrus.
The animals in heat must be inseminated at right time following AM PM rule.

D. Management practices for different categories of dairy cattle

a. Care and Management of calves

Calves form the future dairy herd and for maintaining the efficiency of production, it is necessary to replace at least 15-20 % of cows with freshly calved heifer cows every year. Considering the targets, mortality of calves (up to 1 month) should be kept below 5% on a dairy farm.

Pre-weaning management (Care of calf at birth)

A few days (1-2 weeks) before the expected date of calving, the cows should be transferred to a calving pen where an ample amount of drinking water, laxative feed and daily fresh bedding may be provided. The calving pen should be cleaned and sterilized before pregnant cow transfer.
The presence of an attendant is a must at the time of calving. Immediately after birth, usually a cow licks its calf by which the calf becomes dry and stimulates its blood If the breathing is not started or is difficult sometimes, hold the calf head down by lifting it hock, the phlegm may flow off.
The navel cord should be tied about 2-3 cm away from the body and cut 1 cm below the ligature and should be treated with tincture of iodine solution to prevent navel
The calf should be identified by tattooing and the body weight of new born calf should be recorded at the time of birth and thereafter weekly basis upto 3 months.

Other calf managemental practices:

Calf housing: It would be beneficial to keep calves in individual pens for at least 1 month and if possible up to 3 months of age.
After six months, male and female calves should be housed separately. The floor space requirement should be calculated considering BIS standards. adequate bedding and clean and dry area is a prerequisite for good housing of calves.
The growers must be identified by ear tagging.
The calves must be dehorned within 7-10 days after birth with red hot Iron or caustic potash stick or electrical
The calves must be dewormed within 10-14 days of age and subsequently on a monthly basis up to the 6th month of age.
Vaccination is followed as per schedule in all the calves.
The calves should be weighed at weekly intervals up to 3 months and at monthly intervals afterwards to know the growth rate.
Extra teats beyond 4 should be removed at 1-2 months of

b. Care and Management of Heifers

The main aim of rearing heifer is to take them into producing herd in place of culled cows. The rate of replacement can vary from 20-25 %. The highest growth potential in heifers exists at the age ranging from 6 to 12 / 15 months. The heifers should become pregnant early and calve by 3 years of age for the first time. The optimum age at first breeding for crossbred heifers is 18 months and the target body weight should be 60-65% of mature body weight. During the last half of pregnancy, the heifer should be fed at a higher plane of nutrition to achieve rapid growth and for the development of alveoli and ducts in the mammary gland. During the last fortnight of gestation, the heifers should receive a large amount of concentrate.

General management practices

The heifers should be provided with a loose housing system and during heat stress, should be protected from thermal stress by showering or splashing cold water on the animal 2-3 times during the hottest part of the day; provision of cooled drinking water; protecting under shade during the day and keeping in open during the night. Initiation of lactation in the heifer can sometimes be accompanied by oedematous swelling around the udder. The smearing of glycerine and magsulph paste is the standard remedy. Introduce the pregnant heifers in later stages into the milking parlour and go through the milking routine (“Breaking- off practices”). A heifer after 6-7 months of gestation should be tied with milking animals; and its body, back and udder should be massaged.

c. Management of Pregnant cows including Dry and Transition cows

The dairy cow needs to be dried off around 2 months before the next calving and should be “steamed up” for the next lactation.
A dry cow should be fed adequately depending upon the body condition of a cow at the time of drying off. The cows should not be too fat or too lean at the end of lactation and should have a body condition score of 3.5 at the time of calving.
“Transition cows” includes far-off dry cows (first 40 days of dry period or 60 to 20 days prepartum), close-up dry cows (21 days before calving), maternity cows (calving), and recently fresh cows (21 days after calving).
During the last 3 months of gestation, approximately 70-75 % growth of the calf Therefore, additional nutrient feeding of a cow through a balanced ration (steaming up) is very much important.
The challenge feeding should be done two weeks before the date of calving.

d. Care and Management of lactating cows

Around the time of calving, cows should preferably be housed in single calving pen and monitored continuously for signs of calving.

After calving, the external genitalia and the flank region of an animal should be cleaned with warm water along with some potassium permanganate to give some antiseptic wash. The cow should be offered warm Preferably molasses or jaggery should be mixed with it to give a ready source of energy. Cows should be attended to for retained placenta if the placenta is not expelled within 12 hours.
Feed laxative diet about 3-5 days before and after calving (wheat bran- 3 kg+0.5 g of GN cake + 100 g of mineral mixture with salt). Feeding of Mustard Oil (@200g/day) during the transition period helps in improving post-partum milk production and reproduction.

The animal should be given a light, palatable, mild laxative ration containing warm rice gruel, boiled rice/wheat bran, boiled millet or wheat mixed with edible oil, bypass fat, jaggery, soya, asafoetida, methi, black cumin, ginger etc. for 2 to 3 days after
A dietary protein content of 17-19 % is recommended. A suitable combination of cereal fodders, leguminous fodders and concentrate mixture is the most practical strategy for feeding dairy cows. Plentiful clean drinking water must be provided to milk cows at all times.
During early, mid and late lactation, the basic principles of feeding as explained in the previous section must be followed to obtain maximum milk yield and to reproductive
To reduce the heat load on productive animals, summer management practices like the provision of green trees, fans and foggers inside the shed, etc must be Loose housing with shelter during the hot part of the day should be provided. Feed mangers and water troughs should be kept clean with lime powder at 15 days intervals.

E. Milking practices for clean milk production

The milking area should be cleaned before and after every milking, using fresh water and a mild disinfecting solution (Sodium hypochlorite at 300 ppm).
Grooming and washing of the cows before milking help in clean milk production. Daily brushing will remove loose hair and dirt from the
A proper milking method should be adopted. Milkers must wear clean clothes, and clean and dry their hands before the start of milking, to avoid contamination of the cow and the milking
The bucket/pail used for hand milking should be narrow-mouthed to reduce contamination from dust and udder hairs.
Foremilk the cows by drawing one or two streams of milk carefully from each teat into a strip Pre-dipping of at least 3/4^th of each teat with a sanitizing solution such as 0.5% iodine should be done for 30 sec.
For ensuring proper milk let down and to achieve maximum release of natural oxytocin, washing, drying and removing fore milk requires 30 sec (stimulation time). The milking machine should be applied within 60 sec after the start of udder
Once the milking machine is applied, carefully watch for cessation of milk flow and keep the machine on for the shortest possible time as over milking (dry milking) can damage teat ends and can cause teat abrasions, which may lead to teat infection and
At the end of machine milking, the stripping of cows should be done for the complete removal of milk. Ensure that the vacuum pressure in the milking machine remains constant, avoiding fluctuations.

F. Herd health management

The principles of herd health management under good dairy farm practices comprise of following targets:

Important targets on a dairy farm:

Calf mortality = below 5%
Adult mortality = below 3%
Non-genetic culling = below 15%
- General observations of certain parameters can guide us in assessing the health status of an animal. All the animals should be observed for standing posture, behaviour, condition, attitude, and normal health signs like breathing frequency, rumination, body condition scoring daily in the sheds and at milking time.
- Timely treatment of affected animals is a must to prevent making the disease chronic. Isolate affected and in-contact animals during an outbreak of contagious diseases from the healthy animals
- The herd should be screened as per the prescribed schedule in view of the elimination of carrier animals for brucellosis, Johne’s diseases and B.
- Mastitis control programme: Routine use of screening tests like strip-cup test, CMT for checking of udder health status. Teat dipping before and after milking and dry cow therapy should be practised.
- All the vehicles entering into farm should be disinfected with the use of a foot bath.
- Strategic vaccination plans are to be framed and implemented strictly to protect the animals from diseases (Table 3)

Table 3: Vaccination schedule of important diseases

Disease’s name	Age of the first dose	Booster	Subsequent dose
Foot and Mouth diseases	4 months and above	1 month after primary vaccination	Repeat every 6 months
Haemorrhagic Septicaemia	4-6 months and above, before the onset of monsoon (May and June)	———-	Repeat every year
Black Quarter	4-6 months and above before the onset of the rainy season	———–	Repeat every year
Brucellosis	4-8 months (only females)	—–	Once in a lifetime

G. Dairy farm record management

Maintenance of records is a key operation on dairy farms. Only with realistic records can the farm manager judge his production, keep an account of the expenditure and income, and determine whether his operation is profitable. It also helps to provide adequate information for breeding and genetic improvement of the animals. Moreover, records form the basis on which you can make the planning for future requirements of the farm.

Different types of dairy farm records

Broadly, records of dairy farms comprise two types, (i) Technical Records which deal with the performance of animals, and (ii) Business Records which deal with the purchase, disposal, accounts etc.

The technical records are generally prepared first on the daily diary and then transferred to the respective permanent record/ register (livestock register, history and pedigree sheet, milk record register, cattle feed register, breeding register, health register, body weight register etc).
Farm section records (Labour sheet, machinery and implement book, tractor register, field register, fodder cultivation record, etc) deal with fodder production and related activities.
General records (inventory register, store stock book, ledger, cash book, purchase register, etc) deal with administrative and financial-related matters of the

ICAR-CIRC, Meerut Cantt has developed a simple and feasible methodology to record production, reproduction and health-related observations in the field conditions by the dairy farmer in the form of a “पशुधन उत्पादन एवं स्वास््य पत्रक”.

H. Cow beyond milk

The stray cattle menace is becoming a nuisance these days. Rehabilitating these animals in gaushalas or govansh ashray sthals make such entities a liability. The farmers let loose unproductive dairy animals whether male or female in the open. These animals can be made useful by utilizing properly their dung and urine and converting them into valuable products. Cow urine in general consists of 95% water, 2.5% urea and the rest containing many bioactive agents. Besides utility as medicine cow urine also have potential applications as fertilizer, pesticide and insecticides. Cow dung is another product with multi-potential utility. Cow dung cakes as a solid fuel source, dung-based bio-gas plant for energy, and bio- fertilizers from composting dung are some of the established uses.\

Conclusion

Our country has emerged as the largest producer of milk with a 20.17 per cent share in total milk production in the world. Although the bovine population of the country is the largest, milk productivity per animal is very low. There are multiple factors responsible for low milk production. The lack of scientific knowledge among many dairy owners is one of the major factors. Besides milk, the animal provides urine and dung as utility products. The urine from a cow has unique features and is widely referred to as a panacea in the ancient Indian system of medicine Ayurveda. Cow dung is another product with multi-potential utility. By adopting good dairy farming practices as described in this article, dairy owners and other stakeholders may be benefitted.