About Dairy Farms
The following topics have been designed to educate students about dairy cows:
A Typical Australian Dairy Herd
Dairy cattle are specially bred to produce large amounts of milk. A dairy herd is made up of four different groups of cattle. It might be fairly obvious, but these are:
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Cows - the females, who give birth to calves and produce milk. Most of the cattle in a dairy herd are cows.
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Bulls - the fathers of the dairy herd. Only a few are needed on a dairy farm (most dairy farms do not have bulls but use artificial insemination instead).
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Heifers - young female cattle, who are the 'teenagers' of the herd and have not yet had a calf. They are the second biggest group in the herd.
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Calves - baby cattle. Female calves grow into heifers and then milking cows. Male calves become bulls and are often sold.
Breeds of Dairy Cows
There are many breeds of cows in Australia but the main dairy cattle breeds are Holstein Friesian, Jersey and Aussie Red, all of which are easily identified by their shape and colour.
Holstein Friesien
Origin
Holstein Friesian cows originally came from the Netherlands, but many breeding animals now come from North America.
Looks like
These cows are mainly black and white.
Interesting fact
Holstein Friesian cows produce large quantities of milk and can weigh up to 600 kg. The bulls weigh up to 1000 kg (about the same as a car) and each cow can give more than 5,000 litres of milk in a year.
Jersey
Origin
Jersey cows came from the island of Jersey (in the English Channel between England and France).
Looks like
These cows are relatively small, and fawn in colour, with black tips on their muzzles, ears, feet and tail.
Interesting fact
Jersey cow milk is ideal for making butter because it is so creamy.
Aussie Red
Origin
These cattle were bred in Australia by combining Scandinavian Red genetic lines with other Australian Red breeds such as the Illawarra and Ayrshire.
Looks like
These cows are medium-sized and mainly red in colour, with white markings.
Interesting fact
Aussie Reds are an extremely hardy breed. Their milk has a high protein content and medium milk fat content.
Caring for Cows
Cows generally have fresh new pasture to eat after each morning's milking because herds are rotated through a number of paddocks. Dairy farmers follow strict food safety requirements. This ensures that the cows stay healthy and produce high-quality milk for dairy factories to turn into nutritious dairy products.
Each dairy cow is identified with a unique ear tag that helps the farmer to monitor her regularly. The dairy farmers keep records of all feed provided and any health problems of, or medical treatments given to, individual cows. Farmers see each cow every day and are highly skilled at identifying sick cows. Sick cows are kept separately from the rest of the herd, close to the milking sheds so they don't have to walk around too much, and only rejoin the herd when they are well again. These cows are still milked but the milk is kept separate and thrown away. Dairy farmers must keep their milking equipment and milking sheds very clean so cows can be milked in a hygienic environment.
These are just some of the many things that dairy farmers do to help keep their cows healthy, content, and producing wholesome milk.
Cows need to drink a large volume of fresh water every day because milk is mostly composed of water. Cows can drink about 100 litres of water (a bathtub full) in a day.
Farmers make sure the water is fresh and that there is always plenty to go round.
Dairy cows also receive regular health checks and preventative treatments. They are closely observed each day, prior to and during each milking. Any change in their health and wellbeing is noted and they are treated immediately.
Routine care of individual cows includes:
- post-calving inspections to check for complete recovery from giving birth
- twice-daily observations during milking
- comprehensive disease prevention treatments
- drenching to prevent worms
- vaccinating against diseases
- participation in national disease-control programs.
Milking and handling cows in a calm, stress-free environment is good for cows, people and milk production.
Routine practices that reduce stress include:
- allowing cows to remain in their natural social order when coming in to the milking shed
- providing an environment that respects normal cow behaviour and their responses to light, noise and smells
- preventing injury to animals by maintaining farm facilities (such as laneways, fences, troughs and the milking shed) in safe working order.
What Cows Eat
Cows need a balanced diet which gives them enough energy to keep their bodies working and to produce milk. The main food for dairy cows is pasture, which is a mixture of grass and legumes growing in the farm paddocks. Legumes provide protein, and clover is the main legume found in pasture.
When cows are producing milk they sometimes cannot get enough energy from eating pasture alone. Farmers usually give the cows some high-energy grain when they come into the milking shed as an incentive to be milked.
Cows eat about 40 kg of nutritious food a day (40 kg of food equals 206 baked potatoes or 1,440 slices of bread).
What a cow eats affects how much milk she gives, so farmers need to ensure that their cows have a nutritious diet.
Dairy cows have five main types of food in their diet. These are:
Pasture - the name for the plants growing in the paddocks in which cows graze. Pasture plants can be grasses such as rye-grass, or legumes such as clover. The largest component of an Australian dairy cow's diet is fresh pasture.
Hay - extra pasture that has been dried, cut and made into bales to give to the cows later.
Silage - pasture that has been cut and stored while it is still green to retain the nutrients.
Grains - cereals such as wheat and barley provide more energy than pasture and help cows make more milk. Grains can be crushed and mixed with vitamins and minerals to form pellets. These are usually given to cows at milking time.
Forage crops - special crops are sometimes grown for the cows to graze on during summer. These plants include lucerne, maize (corn), millet, turnips and oats. Cows love to eat the green leafy plants and also dig up the turnips from under the ground and eat these too.
On a typical farm, every time after a cow is milked she is sent to a fresh paddock of pasture so she can enjoy freshly grown grass. As cows are milked twice a day, they are always being moved to different sections of the farm. This rotation system allows grass to re-grow and ensures that cows are always eating the best grass.
Hand-Feeding Calves
After only 12 to 24 hours, calves are weaned off their mothers but are still given milk to drink. The first milk they are given comes straight from their mother and is called colostrum. This is a special type of milk packed with nutrients and antibodies to help the calf develop and to build up its immune system against diseases and unhealthy bacteria.
The colostrum is milked into a bucket which is then transferred to a bottle with a very large teat on the end and fed to the calf. Some calves are fed milk from a special feeder called a calfateria which also has rubber teats but can feed several calves at the same time. To get calves used to drinking out of the bottle, it is sometimes necessary to let them suck milk from your fingers first. Putting your fingers into a calf's mouth is like putting your hand into a suction hose filled with slimy sand because calves have such rough tongues.
The calves soon learn to eat grass and often get to eat the best pasture on the farm to help them grow strong.
Purchased Feed
Purchased feed is the largest cost incurred by most farmers and represents over 30% of dairy farm costs. Some farmers may need to purchase even more feed as climate change and droughts affect water use, pasture growth and feed availability.
Information is available to help farmers take more control of feed purchasing and manage the risks associated with the quality, supply and price of purchased grain, concentrates, fodder and other feeds.
Now go to How Cows Make Milk.