Cows, rightly referred to as metabolic athletes can perform like the Olympic champions when they are healthy and happy. Why only cows? I mean it’s the same with everyone. If you are planning to have your first herd of cattle, you must know how to take care of them. Other than diet, it is equally important to give them a healthy atmosphere. However, different types of cattle need different care. Usually, bottle calves are likely to be more labour intensive, so they need more care than the heifer calves. Regardless of the type of cattle, the steps for caring are relatively the same. Scan through to know about them;
- Provide Them with Plenty of Pasture: Well, this is one of the essential parts because if you don’t know what not to feed them, you can expect a long life. Even though, cattle eat grass, some operations make it necessary to feed them silage that must be cultivated in a dry-lot area. Regions experiencing snow in winters cannot graze cows on grass like they would in summers. Then what? You still need to feed them, right? You cannot let them survive eat anything and everything. If such is the scenario, then;
- Winter grazing can be practiced in such snow laden areas as this is one of the most cost-efficient practices to get the cows out of the corrals.
- Rational grazing is also recommended as it utilizes the grazing space in a better way and distributes manure evenly other than continuous grazing.
- Water and Mineral Must be Available: Sufficient water must be made available and at the same time loose mineral must be kept as well. It can be in the form of salt block as cattle mostly have a high requirement of minerals.
- Maintain Herd’s Health: The herd must be given proper vaccinations. It is particularly important when you don’t have a closed herd and if they are at a risk of getting hold of diseases like Bovine Viral Diarrhea, Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis and blackleg.
- Check for Signs of Injury or Illness: Cows on dry-lot must be checked more frequently than the ones on pasture. As the former ones are more prone to diseases. They often get sick with pneumonia, blackleg and acidosis.
Now that you know what it takes to keep your cattle healthy and happy, see that you follow them because the merrier the cattle the better the milk.
