Tips to Increase the Milk Yield in Cattle

September 08, 2023

Introduction

As a dairy farmer, all you desire is to enhance the efficiency and productivity of your farm.
Maximizing the milk yield of your dairy farm is an inevitable way to raise the return on investment. "But the concern is, how do I achieve that?" Well, we have some best tips that will help you to increase the milk yield of cattle.
Here, we have listed different factors and areas demanding a lot more attention.

Create a well-designed budget plan

An important rule that any business needs is a well-planned and analyzed budget. Many farmers have a basic knowledge of their total expenditure but are unfamiliar with the comprehensive listing of how it all links on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
Here, a detailed examination related to the money transaction helps them to make crucial decisions. Farmers should be aware of both the income and profit earned on their farms. Doing so will help them identify the areas where they need to cut costs and where those funds can be a better investment.

Factors Affecting Milk Yield.

In healthy conditions, milk yield in cattle increases within the first six weeks of lactation and then gradually begins to decline. This fall in the actual milk yield occurs due to several factors such as breed, parity, management, etc. But the most important reason, which leads to lower milk yield, is reproduction-related issues like frequent breeding, the season of calving, prolonged calving period, and mineral deficiency.

1. Breed

In India, there is a broad range of cow and buffalo breeds available. The nutritional content in the milk produced by them varies within the different dairy breeds.

2. Dry Period

The dry period for any dairy cow is usually two months, i.e., 60 days. It involves both far-off and close-up periods. The close-up period in the cattle begins three weeks before the expected due date for calving. This rest interval is required to boost the milk yield in the subsequent lactation. If cattle undergo a dry period of less than 40-60 days, the milk production gets decreased by 25-40%. The assumption that milk production will increase with a long dry period (more than 60 days) is also incorrect because a prolonged dry period does not significantly increase milk yield.

3. Age and Weight During Calving

The milk yield in the cattle increases with the advancing lactation. Due to this, the cattle's body weight increases, which results in a better and larger digestive system and mammary glands for milk secretion. Another reason for the enhancement in milk production with age is repetitive pregnancy and lactation. The data available on milk production with cows indicates that 20% of the increase in milk yield is due to age, and 80% of the effect is due to repetitive pregnancy and lactation. Repetitive pregnancy and lactation may result in an increment of 30% in milk production.

4. Lactation Number and Pregnancy

Milk production rises with the rise in the number of lactations. Maximum growth in milk production appears in the 4th to 5th lactation. Repetitive pregnancies are helpful, but they have an unusual inhibitory effect on milk yield. Later around the fifth month of pregnancy, a drop occurs in the milk yield of cows. Moreover, milk yield seems to be 20% less by the eighth month of pregnancy than any non-pregnant cow.

5. Season of Calving

6. Health, Diseases, or Mineral Deficiencies

It is true that “health is wealth” because the cattle's milk yield will increase only when they are healthy. But diseases like mastitis reduce the ability of their secretory tissue and make them weak. It directly affects the daily milk yield of the farm.
Mineral deficiencies are also one of the significant causes of lower milk yield in cattle. Some critical insufficiencies can lead to sudden death in cattle.

The solution

Beyond diet, herd management and rearing conditions directly affect the amount of milk yield per cow per day. The first and most active step that you need to take is to undergo an audit. The conclusions drawn from this audit will help you to classify the areas for improvement. Below are some considerations that you should acknowledge when aiming to increase the milk yield.

1. Treat your cattle with the utmost care and respect. A healthy cow produces more milk so, it is necessary to observe the cattle’s health regularly.

2. Cattle should get proper time to rest and dry matter to intake. The dry period is the vital stage of a cattle’s lactation cycle. Any issue during the dry period will negatively affect the cattle’s health and milk production.

3. You have to ensure that the nutritional needs of the cattle are being met on time.

4. You are required to increase the cattle's comfort by providing them permanent access to food and water. The shed should be clean and have much space so that the new mums can lower their stress levels.

5. You must consistently watch the warning signs if the cattle have any history of milk fever, ketosis, or mastitis.

On the whole, to balance all these things, you need well-designed Cattle Management Software. Cattle Management Software like GauSamriddhi allows you to handle everything at your fingertips. It improves the potential of yielding in your farm by offering different features. Some of the highlighted features are detailed record management, event tracking, heat detection, timely alerts, etc.

Conclusion:

Overall, a happy and healthy cow with- the right amount of feed, nutrition, rest time, and a stress-free environment- will produce more milk and make the business more profitable. So, to avert the low milk yield issues, you have to monitor the proper and timely heat in the cattle, provide a balanced diet and mineral supplements, and plan appropriate protection against various parasitic infections that can occur in cattle. Here, the Cattle Management Software chose by you comes in handy.