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Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:46 pm
by Louisa Gidney
"A cow with a name produces more milk than one without, scientists at Newcastle University have found"
This has been in the local press & full details from press office link at www.ncl.ac.uk
It's interesting as quantifying gain in milk yield by treating cows as individuals, giving them names & inter-acting with them socially. May seem fundamentally obvious but very good to be able to demonstrate the beneficial effects of what many Dexter owners take for granted.
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:06 am
by Saffy
I took over the milking of my fathers black and whites from the workman here - many years ago. The workman was delighted to be back with the tractors! I made the decision not only to treat them all as I would like to be treated BUT that the ones that kicked would be talked to kindly and stroked and the machine put back on with great care. This was because I had observed what had happened to a particular cow and her yield. She peaked giving nearly 12 gallons a day at 5 or 6 weeks but it plunged away sharply and she gave a very sorry yield. My theory was that she was scared and if I made her comfortable her yield and maybe those of others would not plunge.
It worked and she gave the most fantastic yield in my first year and several after that. However she didn't stop kicking as I had hoped and stamped merrily on the milking machine and writhed about furiously for many more years. I didn't see an obvious improvement in other yields but the overall herd were much quiter and easier to handle and the butterfat went up, so the letdown had improved. It was much commented on especially at the sale many years later how quiet they were.
Stephanie
Edited By Saffy on 1233821266
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:00 am
by Martin
In winter my cows are housed, as the shed is rather low I cannot allow the bedding to build up so twice a day I take any heavily soiled straw out using a wheel barrow. I do this after giving them their hay so they are all feeding whilst I am in the shed,I make a point of stroking every animal for a few seconds whilst talking to them, making sure in the begining to stand out of the reach of a kick from a young heifer.
My herd is quiet and relaxed and I have had comments from other breeders on how friendly they are when approached in the field. You reap what you sow as the saying goes.
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 12:45 pm
by davidw
I sometimes think that university researchers are a pretty niaive bunch. There was one a few weeks ago that "proved" cattle have inbuilt compasses because they face the same way. Obviously they didn't think about the wind direction!!
I'm an engineer, not a stockman, but even I know that the number one enemy of livestock is stress. Putting 500 cows in a feedlot and throwing silage at them twice a day from a feeder wagon isn't the most relaxing way of keeping stock.
As others have said, deal with animals in a sensitive way, treat them as individuals, and they relax. Less hassle = less stress = more milk. Its what every decent stockman has known for generations, without the need for a PhD.