Dairy Cattle and Buffalo Management
Dairy Cattle and Buffalo Management tests the lactation cycle, calf rearing, milking hygiene and clean milk production. The exam expects practical numbers: lactation length, dry period, colostrum feeding and calving interval.
Core rules
- A normal lactation lasts about 300–305 days; the dry period is about 60 days; the target calving interval is 12–13 months.
- Colostrum should be given within the first hour or two after birth, because calf immunity depends on antibodies absorbed before gut closure.
- Clean milk production requires a healthy udder, clean teats, dry hand milking or machine milking, foremilk examination, filtration and rapid cooling.
- Buffalo milk is usually higher in fat than cow milk and buffalo gestation is longer, about 310 days.
- Record dates of heat, service, pregnancy diagnosis and calving; these drive dry-off and calving interval decisions.
Worked example
A cow calves on 1 January. With a 305-day lactation, milk production is planned up to about 1 November. A 60-day dry period then runs to about 31 December, so the next calving is expected around the same date next year. The reasoning links lactation length, dry period and calving interval rather than treating them as separate dates.
Traps
Do not discard colostrum as first milk. Do not strip milk onto the floor or milk with wet hands. Do not continue milking a cow with mastitis into the bulk tank. Do not confuse the dry period with the voluntary waiting period.