How to raise a good calf

October 19 18:02:34, 2018

Newborn calf must have colostrum within two hours of birth and the sooner the better, even if the cow is milkless, it is necessary for the calf to eat colostrum from other cows, which is beneficial to the calf's birth and to obtaining maternal antibodies. . In the early period of breeding of burdock must be set to three: that is, timing, quantitative, fixed temperature. During the first three weeks after birth, the rumen, reticulum, and valve were not fully developed. At this time, although the rumen of burdock is also a large stomach, it does not have any digestive function. When the calf sucks, it will have a natural The nerve reflexes the esophageal groove to form a tubular structure that prevents milk from flowing into the rumen, allowing it to enter the atrophic stomach for digestion. This stage can not be regarded as ruminant livestock, the first few weeks after birth must be based on milk products for the diet, when the milk into the abomasum, the secretion of rennet from the stomach and milk to digest. As burdock grows, rennet activity is gradually replaced by pepsin. After 3 weeks of age, burdock has the ability to digest non-dairy protein eggs. Therefore, after 20 days, concentrates and hay can be properly placed to allow the calves to eat freely so that the rumen can be exercised earlier to promote the proliferation of rumen microbes and gradually reduce the amount of milk fed. The calf's lactation period was originally 6 months. In recent years, people have continuously explored trials to shorten the period of breast-feeding and reduce the amount of whole milk. This will not only reduce the cost of feeding, but also increase the portion of fresh milk for the market. At present, the period of breast-feeding is shortened to 3-4 months (depending on the individual of burdock), the amount of whole milk is reduced to 300 kg, and the burdock that starts weaning consumes 1.5-2 kg of mixture each day. Regardless of the mixture or coarse material, the amount of feeding should be increased from little to large, gradually increase, must not allow the calf to randomly feed a large amount of fine material in order to avoid food and diarrhea, and ensure that the weight of the calf when weaning is up to 100 kg.