Calf milking method

The weaning age of calves is generally 3~4 months. Foreign developed countries advocate early weaning. When weaned early, calves are usually 7-8 weeks old. In production practice, male calves with high yield should be weaned early to improve the production efficiency of dairy cows; But it is more economical to wean calves at the age of 3 ~ 4 months. When the calf is weaned, its weight should reach about 70 kg. In production practice, the weaning time is sometimes determined according to the intake of calves. It is generally believed that calves can be weaned if they eat 1kg/ day concentrate and can ruminate effectively.

Calf weaning

Weaning generally refers to stopping breastfeeding, and sometimes it also refers to changing liquid feed into solid feed. Weaning of naturally lactating calves refers to the former, while weaning of artificially lactating calves refers to the latter. Weaning makes the calf's food change fundamentally, which makes the calf produce stress reaction. In order to reduce the adverse effects of weaning on calves, the principle of gradual progress should be adopted. That is, before scheduled weaning 15 days, the feeding amount of concentrate and roughage should be gradually increased, and the feeding amount of milk should be gradually reduced. The daily feeding frequency was changed from 3 times to 2 times, then changed to 1 time, and then changed to 1 time every other day. At the time of weaning, 1: 1 was also fed with milk mixed with water, and the amount of water was gradually increased, and then it was completely changed to warm water in the next few days.

During weaning, keep the ambient temperature suitable (10~30℃), keep the barn clean and drink plenty of water to provide calves with nutritious and digestible concentrate and high-quality green hay. During weaning, the breeder should remain relatively stable and observe the behavior of the calf. If abnormal phenomena are found, report them in time and ask technicians to solve them.