The main purpose of breeding dairy cattle is to obtain offspring, which will also be used primarily for dairy production.
Raising dairy cows for milk production requires careful attention to their breeding so that they produce as much milk as possible.
In fact, raising dairy cows will require advance planning, close attention and monitoring, as well as registration of matings and regular accounting of the daily production of all cows in the herd.
A dairy cow breeding program is just as important for a large commercial livestock operation with a large number of herds as it is for a small individual farmer with a herd and only a few animals.
To produce milk, cows must produce calves. And to give both milk and calves, cows must be mated in a timely manner.
On most dairy farms, heifers are born and become accustomed to dairy farming and are used to replace older cows. On the other hand, male and old cows are usually used for beef production.
Dairy cow breeding
Along with calf and milk production, another goal of dairy cattle breeding is to improve commercial farm animal production and genetic improvement.
First, choose the cow(s) you want to raise (these cows are usually calledfunds).
Next, the breeding method must be determined: using a bull or artificial insemination (AI). However, here we will talk in more detail about the stages of raising dairy cattle.
Choose a cow
First, choose the cow you want to breed. The cow that will be used for breeding purposes is called the main stock.
You have to choose good cows to have a good quality calf with good characteristics.
In fact, all cows can produce milk, and the amount of milk may be enough for family consumption, but at the same time it may be too little to collect for sale.
Therefore, raising dairy cattle is also important to increase milk production.
You can use your existing cows to produce higher quality calves with good qualities. In this case, a bull of a good dairy type should be used to breed dairy cows.
Determine breeding method
You can use a bull or use an artificial insemination system to breed dairy cows.
Whichever method you choose, be sure to check the quality of the bull. Here we will talk in detail about the two dairy cattle breeding systems.
Breeding through a bull
Many of the bulls commonly found on most small farms are useless for improving an existing herd.
The best and safest way to get a good breeding bull is to breed a single bull on your farm or use a good dairy-type bull from a reputable breeding farm (such as a private, religious, school or government breeding farm) .
In the case of choosing a bull, if you can’t get purebred, you can use one with at least half milk blood.
If you follow this, you can expect the bull’s offspring to be better in terms of milk production.
Along with an increase in milk production, you can also expect an increase in the carcass of new calves.
Follow the instructions below to select and use a dairy bull.
- Always try to select and find a good bull from a reliable source (such as a private, religious, school or government breeding farm).
- Make sure the bull is healthy and can serve properly.
- If you already have a lot of bulls in your herd, consider neutering them all.
- Always try to avoid inbreeding (don’t let your bull mate with his daughter). It is a good idea to replace the bull after three years to avoid inbreeding.
- Prevent bulls from entering your farm from outside. And also prevent outside bulls from mating with your cows.
Breeding by artificial insemination
Artificial insemination is a very good system for breeding dairy cows. Artificial insemination has been used on most dairy farms since the 1950s and may be a good choice for you if you don’t want to incur the added costs of raising breeding bulls.
And artificial insemination is good if your herd size is less than 5-6 cows. Dairy bulls can also be extremely dangerous and unpredictable, so keeping bulls for breeding purposes is not always a good idea.
Follow the instructions below to raise dairy cows with an artificial insemination system.
Find an experienced professional
To breed cows, you need to hire an experienced specialist in artificial insemination.
You need to find an experienced technician because the more experienced the technician, the more likely your cows are to become pregnant.
Breeding calendar
You will need to establish a schedule to determine which cows to breed and when. For this, a pregnancy table or a pinwheel is useful.
The calendar should indicate when your cows should come out later when they are in heat. Usually, the artificial insemination process is carried out 12 hours after the cows show signs of estrus.
raise a cow
If everything looks perfect, this part will be done by your AI specialist.
Monitor your cows regularly after successful breeding. You need to monitor whether any of your cows go back into heat or not. You should record those that went into heat and hatched, along with their estimated time of calving. God bless you!
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