AINA ZA N'GOMBE WA MAZIWA

 today i would like to show you on how to select a suitable dairy cattle be with me 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DAIRY CATTLE

Shape : dairy cattle should have a wedged shape/ triangular shape, humpless with strong feet and big stomach. A cow with a large stomach can eat and store a lot of food. The food is then digested for use in the body. Some of the food is converted into milk. A cow which eats a lot of food can produce much milk than the cow which eats only small amount of food.

Udder and teats: a good dairy cow has good udder. A good udder is an udder which is well attached and suspended to the body. Bad udder tend to develop mastitis, mastitis is the inflammation of the udder. A good udder is spongy. A spongy udder contains better mammary glands than meaty stiff udder. But also a good udder is big and pendulous and hence tends to secret more milk than the small one.

Body colour : normally dairy cattle have one or two colors on to their bodies e.g brown, red white and black.

Origin : most of the dairy cattle are originated from temperate areas e.g Holland, Switzerland, Scotland and other part of Europe and Asia.

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Dairy cattle breeds

There are two common breeds of dairy cattle breeds. One-group consists of breeds which are suitable mainly for milk production. This group includes Friesian, jersey, Guernsey, ayrshire and brown swiss. The other group consist of breeds which are suitable for both milk production and meat production. Such breeds are said to be dual purpose breeds which includes sahiwal and mpwapwa breeds. Consider the following breeds of dairy cattle:

·         Holstein Friesian

·         Brown swiss

·         Ayrshire

·         Guernsey

·         Jersey

·         Mpwapwa

·         Sahiwal

·         Red poll

Different characteristics of dairy cattle

1.       Holstein Friesian

Is the one of the largest dairy cattle breed in the world

Characteristics

·         They are originated from Holland

·         Have black and white markings

·         Have least butter fat contents of 3.5%

·         Produces the highest amount of milk 6000 liters per lactation per cow

·         Their calves normally born with 40 kg or more.

·         A cow weighs 400-600kg while a bull weighs 600-1000kgs

2.       Brown swiss

Is the one of the oldest of dairy cattle breed, developed on mountain slopes of Switzerland?

Characteristics:-

·         They are originated from Switzerland

·         Second heaviest dairy cattle breed after Friesian

·         They have brown colour, light to very dark brown

·         They are docile

·         A cow weighs 450-550kg while a bull weighs 600-900kgs

3.       Ayrshire

They are third large breed of dairy cattle after Friesian and brown Swiss

Characteristics:-

They are larger than jersey and Guernsey

They are red and white to mahogany and white colour

They are originated from South west Scotland

Their milk fat average is 4%

They are noted easily by good udder characteristics in terms of udder shape and attachment

4.       Guernsey

Characteristics:-

Produce milk of golden colour

They have red and white colour

Their milk fat average is 4.5%

Produces 4200litres of milk per lactation per cow

A cow weighs 450-500kgs while bull weighs 600-700kgs

5.       Jersey

Is smallest of the dairy cattle

Characteristics:-

·         They are originated from island, one the channel island between UK and France

·         Have higher butter fat content of 5%

·         They have fawn (blackish brown)

·         A cow weighs 400-450kg  and bull weighs to 500-600kgs.