Management of dairy cattle

1. Regularity of care: The operations done on these animals should be performed regularly without abrupt interruptions as those may affect the production of animals.
2. Kindness to animals: Rough handling of animals like beating reduces the     productivity and can even cause injuries that may be expensive to treat.
3. Exercise: Animals need light exercise for good health, but long distances of movement should be avoided as these require a lot of energy lowering animal production.
4. Grooming: Keeping hind quarters of animals off dung, loose hair and any dirt by brushing and dipping leads to production of high-quality milk.
5. Hoof trimming: Overgrown hoofs should be trimmed to avoid difficulty in movement and lameness
6. Dehorning: Apart from introducing uniformity in the herd, handling of dehorned     animals is easy and less risky
7. Identification: For record purposes, dairy animals should be identified by ear tagging notching, branding and tattooing.   
8. Provision of adequate water; Animals need enough water since the biggest percentage of their body is water. Excessive loss of water from the body reduces milk produced.
9. Breeding: A farmer should aim at breeding of his herd to increase animal number and productivity by incorporating good breeds in the breeding program.
10. Proper feeding: dairy animals should be given enough and highly nutritious feeds to improve and maintain a high level of production

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Dr. Bbosa Science