ANSCI 57A

General Dairy Farm Practices and Identification of

Cattle
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 Identification of animals
 Dehorning
 Bedding
 Grooming
 Castration
 Exercising & etc.
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 Identification of animals
1. To know the performance and history of each animal
2. To carry out the daily farm operations like feeding, breeding and
health care of animals
3. To maintain accuracy in recording of animal data
4. To clear the disputes over the lost or stolen cattle
5. To claim insurance of animals
6. For entry into herd book of pedigree animals
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 Identification of animals
Methods of identification (Cattle and Buffalo)

* Branding
* Tattooing
* Tagging
* Photographing
* Electronic tagging with microchips
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 Identification of animals
Methods of identification (Cattle and Buffalo)

 Branding
It involves putting numbers, letters, designs or a combination of
these on the skin with hot iron or chemicals.

Three type of branding

1. Hot iron branding
2. Chemical
3. Cryo branding
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 Identification of animals
Methods of identification (Cattle and Buffalo)

 Tattooing
• It consists of piercing outlines of desired number or letter or
a combination of both on inner side of ear and applying
black vegetable pigment into the punctures. It is most
suited for marking calves. Tattooing set comprises of
Tattooing forceps, tattooing ink and series of letters and
numbers.
• The imprints should be made conveniently on inner side of
ear avoiding ear veins.
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 Identification of animals
Methods of identification (Cattle and Buffalo)

 Tagging
• Tags are made of aluminum, brass, strong plastic with the numbers
stamped on them and fixed to ear with tagging forceps.

Types of tags are available

1). Self-piercing type- Self-piercing variety has sharp ends and can be
directly fixed to the ear with a forceps.
2). Non-piercing type- In non-piercing type, a hole is made with a tag
punch
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 Identification of animals
Methods of identification (Cattle and
Buffalo)

 Electronic Tags
• Electronic tagging is carried with the help of a
syringe. It is specially designed to push the chips
just under the skin of the animal. The implanted
chips bear a number which is read by a scanner.
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 General Dairy Farm Practices

1. Exercising
2. Grooming
3. Bedding
4. Dehorning
5. Castration
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Exercising
- Minimum exercise is necessary for all animals. It
keeps the animals thrifty and active. It helps in
normal metabolic process and maintenance of
good health.
- Outdoor exercise by exposure to sunlight helps in
supply of vitamin D
- In large livestock farms and semen banks, a bull
exerciser is used to exercise a number of bulls
simultaneously avoiding obesity in animals.
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 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Grooming
- Grooming comprises of brushing the hair coat of
animals.
- It is done for cleanliness, improve appearance,
massage and stimulate cutaneous and lymph blood
circulation, removal of waste products like skin
secretions, loose hair, skin parasites from hair.
- Cows are regularly groomed before milking to avoid
falling of dust in milk. Before milking, brushing of
rump, sides of thigh and buttocks should be done.
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 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Bedding
- During winter suitable bedding should be
provided to young calves to provide warmth. In
tropical countries like India, provision of bedding
is not important as in western countries.
- Bedding is used primarily for keeping animals
clean and comfortable. Bedding soils up the urine
and makes manure handling easier.
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 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Dehorning/Disbudding
- Dehorning is removal of horns of animals.
- Disbudding means arresting the growth of horn
buds at an early age.
- Dehorn calves as early as possible, when horn
buds are very small, causing little discomfort to
animal. Dehorn the calf when it is four to 10 days
old or as soon as horn buds can be easily
detected. Dehorning is done mostly in spring or
post monsoon season to avoid flies.
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 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Dehorning/Disbudding
Ways of dehorning
1. Chemical Method
2. Hot iron method
3. Dehorning saw or clippers
4. Elastrator
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 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Weighing of animals
1. Direct method- The animals are passed through the weighing yard and
weighing is carried out on the platform balances. Allow the animal to
stand for a while on the platform before recording the weight.
2. Indirect method- The weight of the animal can be obtained indirectly
by measuring the girth and length of the animal using a measuring
tape.
length- measuring the distance between the points of shoulder
to the point of pin bones
Girth- measuring the circumference of the chest of the animal
just behind the elbows.
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 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Farm Record Maintenance
1. To know the pedigree and history of the animals maintained.
2. It helps in knowing the dairy activities carried out in the farm like
deworming, Vaccination, castration, identification etc.
3. It helps in identification of each animal in the herd and knowing the
production performance of the animals.
4. It helps in knowing the herd average, milk average, average daily milk
yield, lactation number, lactation length etc.
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 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Farm Record Maintenance
5. It aids in breed wise improvement of herd.
6. It helps in culling and removal of the unproductive stock from the
farm.
7. The economics of the farm can be worked out.
8. It helps in selection of the animals for future breeding purposes.
9. It helps in identifying the elite animals and registration of animals in
central herd registration book.
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Farm Record Maintenance
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Farm Record Maintenance
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Farm Record Maintenance
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Farm Record Maintenance
DAIRY FARM PRACTICES

 General Dairy Farm Practices

 Farm Record Maintenance
End of Presentation