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When planning to buy a cow for milk, every private owner wants to purchase the best animal that will provide the family with maximum production at a minimum cost. Although it is not without reason that there is a saying that milk is on the cow’s tongue, there is some truth in such thoughts. Not all dairy cows produce the same amount of milk of equal quality with the same feed intake. Regardless of the breed, there are certain rules for choosing a dairy cow.
Choosing a wet nurse
All dairy cow breeds have common characteristics:
- graceful physique;
- small neat head;
- long pelvis;
- perfectly straight back line without protruding withers or rump;
- thin skin;
- well developed milk veins;
- cup-shaped elastic udder with well-developed nipples;
- legs of medium length.
In general, the description of the best dairy cow breeds differs only in color and size. But even the cow’s belonging to the best dairy breed in the world Cattle does not yet guarantee high milk yields. In every population, deviations from the standard occur. Much depends on the shape of the udder and nipples.
Which udder is better
In dairy cows, a cup-shaped udder is preferred: wide at the base, extending far forward to the chest and protruding at the back. The base of such an udder is attached high. In front, the udder line smoothly merges with the abdominal wall. The bottom of the udder is almost horizontal. The bottom line is at the level of the hock joint. The nipples are quite long, slightly conical or cylindrical, widely spaced. The length of the nipples is 6-8 cm. They are located on evenly developed lobes.
The nipples should not be too thick or thin, short or poorly developed. Thick, short or undeveloped teats are inconvenient for milking, and if there are thin teats, the cow will lose milk as she goes.
Cows with non-standard teats are milked by hand and this only makes sense if this individual produces milk of better quality than its peers. Otherwise, the cow is culled from the dairy herd.
A rounded udder is not considered vicious, but for a breed of dairy cows it is a disadvantage. It is typical for beef cattle, which need milk only to feed the calf. A rounded udder has a smaller base than a cupped one. The anterior wall meets the belly almost at a right angle. The udder lobes are also not always evenly developed. With age, the rounded udder sags, begins to be damaged by hard plant stems, and gets dirty.
A “goat” udder for dairy cattle is considered defective and such an individual is subject to culling. The “goat” udder has underdeveloped anterior lobes and from the side it looks triangular.The nipples on such an udder are thick, close-set, and long. In addition to the simple inconvenience of milking, cattle with such an udder have low productivity.
Udder defects are most likely inherited.
What a representative of the dairy cow breed should look like in the photo below.
In addition, you should pay attention to the age of the cow. Age is determined by teeth or rings on the horns. The latter is possible only if the animal is not polled. When determining the age of a dairy cow by its horns, two years are added to the number of rings present. When purchasing cattle for milk, age is also very important. A good dairy cow will produce until she is 8 years old at most. Then milk yield decreases. Without the birth of a calf there will be no milk. And the rings show how many times the cow has calved. A heifer is often born at one year of age; at two, she gives birth to her first calf.
The age of teeth is determined by the level of abrasion. But there may be errors here, since tooth abrasion depends on the food the animal received and the strength of the tooth enamel.
Before finally choosing a dairy cow, the candidates you have been looking at need to be milked yourself. Sellers should be asked not to milk the animal before the buyer arrives, then it will be possible to estimate how much milk this particular individual can produce.
Which breed to choose
When choosing a cow, you want to take the best, but here the buyer is stepping on thin ice.What breeds of cows are the dairyiest? Obviously, the best dairy cow breed is the Holstein black and white. But in reality it's not that simple.
Holstein
It is not clear how this Dutch cattle breed was “appropriated” by the German region of Holstein. However, the name is German, and the Netherlands is considered the birthplace of the breed. The description of this dairy cow states that it can produce up to 60-65 liters of milk per day. This breed is kept on dairy farms around the world. The record for milk yield was set in Israel, where 10 thousand liters of milk were produced from one cow during the lactation period. In Russia, the milk yield of this cattle is lower: up to 7.5 thousand liters.
It would seem that there is nothing more to wish for. But it's not that simple. To get a lot of milk from this breed, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions for it and provide it with high-quality feed. However, the milk fat content of this breed is only 3%. What about butter and sour cream?
In second place in the ranking of dairy breeds in the world is Ayrshire cow.
Ayrshire
The Ayrshire breed can easily be confused with the red-and-white version of the Holstein, but Holsteins are larger. The milk yield of Airshires during the lactation period is on average 4.5 tons, and the fat content of milk is already higher than that of Holsteins: 4%. But cattle of this breed are also quite demanding in terms of feed and maintenance. Is there any point in suffering if you can find a cow with almost the same milk yield and much higher milk fat content?
Jersey
In terms of feed/return ratio, this is the best dairy breed of cows. The productivity of Jerseys is only slightly lower than that of the Ayrshire breed: 3.5-4 thousand liters. With some effort, these cows can produce even 5 thousand liters of milk. And the set record is 9 thousand. At the same time, the fat content of their milk is about 5%. And to produce 1 liter of milk you need only 0.8 feed. unitsJersey cows require significantly less space than their competitors, as these cows are very small in size. Females have an easy-going nature, although bulls should be wary.
The Jersey could have become the best dairy cow for a private owner, if not for its inherent disadvantages that arose due to the breeding conditions of the breed. The island where Jersey cattle were bred is very small. It is impossible to keep a large number of livestock on it. This means inbreeding is inevitable. The fragile appearance and large languid eyes of Jerseys are also a consequence of inbreeding, but not fatal. It is much worse that these cute animals have weak immunity and are more susceptible to diseases than other breeds of cows.
Also the body Jersey cow adapted to assimilate feed grown on soil oversaturated with microelements and in areas far from the sea, Jerseys require special feeding.
The main disadvantage of the breed is the price. Even in Europe, these Jerseys are rare and expensive. In Russia, crossbreeds are more often kept and rarely does anyone shell out money for a purebred animal. Therefore, despite the high productive characteristics of Jersey dairy cows, they are not widely used in Russia.
If foreign breeds are finicky, and some are sickly, maybe it’s worth taking a closer look at domestic ones and choosing the most dairy breed of cows in Russia?
Russian dairy cattle
There are as many breeds of dairy cows in Russia as there are climatic zones. Historically, in Rus' they wanted to get milk, not meat, from cattle. Meat usually came from other livestock and forest game.
Original Russian breeds were well adapted to the climate of the area where they were bred using the method of folk selection. Local livestock were undemanding when it came to feed and were able to survive on rotten straw from the roofs. But they could not be called the most dairy breeds of cows then, and they cannot now.
When asking the question “which domestic breed of cows is the most dairy-producing in Russia,” you will have to return to the Holstein again. More precisely, to her descendants.
Black and white
This is the most popular breed of dairy cattle in Central Russia. Descendants of Holstein bulls and local dams, Black and White cattle can produce 5.5 to 5.8 tons of milk per year. At the same time, fat content is inversely proportional to milk yield and amounts to 3.4-4.15%.
Black-and-White cattle are much better adapted to the Russian climate than Holstein cattle and allow more “liberties” when kept on a personal farmstead. These cows are not so picky about feed and temperature in the barn. But for more northern regions, the most dairy breed of cows will be different.
Kholmogorskaya
Kholmogory cattle were bred in the Arkhangelsk region and are perfectly adapted to the northern cold. Kholmogorok is bred not only in the north of the European part of Russia, but also in Siberia. Milk yield ranges from 3.5 to 8 tons of milk per year. Fat content is 3.6-4%. With proper selection of feed, the fat content of milk from Kholmogory cattle can reach 5%.
The disadvantage of Kholmogorok is the round udder that is often found in the population.
Yaroslavskaya
A very popular breed among private owners, it produces milk with a high fat content: 4-4.5%. But milk yield, quite expectedly, is low: on average 2250 kg during the lactation period. Maximum milk yield – 5 tons.
The Yaroslavskaya is very recognizable from the photo and description among other dairy breeds of cows: it has a black body and a white head. White markings are also present on the belly, extending to the udder.
Yaroslavkas are not large. They are similar in size to Jerseys, but do not require as much attention and care. Yaroslavl cattle have a good ability to adapt to various conditions, but for the southern regions it is better to purchase dairy cattle breeds bred in the steppes of Ukraine.
Red Stepnaya
Able to survive in the relatively dry Tauride steppes of Ukraine, Krasnaya Stepnaya is distinguished by good milk yield: 3.5-4 tons of milk per lactation. But the fat content of milk is not high for such milk yield: 3.2-3.4%. However, where does fat come from if there is juicy grass? Red steppe cattle receive only in spring and early autumn. In summer, the grass burns out and cows are forced to eat low-nutrient dried stalks. Red steppe cattle tolerate drought and heat well, but are more sensitive to cold than northern breeds.
Gray Stepnaya
The breed cannot be called a dairy breed, but it deserves mention for its uniqueness. Today it is an almost extinct breed, part of which was preserved by the monks of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Moreover, with God’s help, they managed to milk the cows of this breed up to 20 liters of milk per day, which is a lot even for the recognized “dairy” representatives of cattle. At the same time, the Gray Stepnaya has a slight advantage over its “sister” Red: a greater slaughter yield of meat from the carcass.
You won't deny Gray Steppe's endurance either.Back in the 19th century, this breed was used as draft cattle. Which meant working in a yoke during the day and recuperating on meager grazing at night. Such exploitation has developed in the Gray Steppe the ability to make do with a minimum of not very high-quality feed.
Conclusion
When choosing a cow, you should pay attention not only to advertising and the prestige of the breed, but also to the climatic conditions in which this animal will have to live and produce. In case of increased heat or extreme cold, milk yield will inevitably decrease. Demanding demands on feed can play a cruel joke on the cattle owner if suddenly the hay or feed turns out to be of poor quality.
Today in Russia, livestock farming has begun to revive. Selection work is again being carried out aimed at increasing the productivity of dairy cattle of local breeds. Exhibitions are held where the best dairy cows in Russia are presented. The video below shows one of these exhibitions.
