The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
Managing a dairy cow
1. Managing a dairy cow
High yielding dairy animals
will only produce optimum
milk if they are offered feeds
of right quality and quantity.
They should be fed
appropriately during all stages
of growth, production and
maturity.
2. When the above is done,
they would bear one
calf a year, and
produce optimum milk
per lactation.
3. The quality and quantity of
the available fodder in the
region cannot be relied upon
to sustain a high yielding
dairy cow which in most times
is lactating, carrying a calf
and sometimes still growing.
4. Poor dairy management
causes farmers to lose
milk, meat, growth rate
and overall body
condition mainly during
the dry season.
6. To sustain production
levels, there is need for
proper Feeding and proper
nutrients and microbes
supplementation.
Addressing the above
guarantees a dairy farmer:
8. In most parts of Africa
dairy cows are fed on
highly ligneous post
harvest crop residue
such as maize stovers,
straws, seed cakes and
germs
9. These, unaided are difficult for
an animal to digest and bring
them to end-products of
digestion that can be transported
to the other parts of the body for
cow nourishment hence the need
for beneficial microbes
10. The higher the population of
micro-organisms associated
with this breakdown, the
more effective the digestion of
these cellulose and
carbohydrates which form ¾
of all dry matter fed to
ruminants.
11. The micro organisms in the
fore stomach work on the
feed to break it into a state
that can dissolve in water
and be transported to the
various parts of the body.
12. This is where water
becomes important.
It dissolves or suspends
the nutrients and
carries them from one
part of the animal to the
other.
14. The aim of supplementing
micro organisms is to
increase their population,
enhance digestion,
Maximize nutrients
extraction and thus
minimize wastage.
15. Further, there is need to
frequently include micro
organism in the feed
because animals lose
millions of these
organisms through cow
dung.
16. Good Quality Feed
• If the animal
takes feed of
poor quality,
she loses
productivity.
The quality of a
feed is measured
by the amount of
energy, the
amount of protein,
the amount of
minerals, and the
amount of
vitamins in it.
17. She spends time and energy
crushing trash
only to get less than her
body’s requirement.
18. To help avail the above,
supplementation becomes
handy as not all forage /
feed have the same amount
of nutrients.
19. . What’s more, forage can
be having nutrients, but
it may be less palatable
causing animals not to
take much voluntarily.
20. It should be noted that not all
the quantity of forage eaten by
a cow can be digested and
absorbed. Some of the
digested forage is wasted as in
a case where the animal
expels the same from the
system because it contains
toxins.
