Cows are unique animals enjoying centuries of association with human beings throughout the world. In the Indian culture, they enjoy supreme status as an animal of worship, besides their status as a popular domestic animal loved as a pet, employed as a source of income as well as a nutritional supplement for the family and the agriculture farm if any. Caring cows was part of the daily life in a majority of the Indian families during the yesteryears.  But the domestication of cows is not so common nowadays. Only a marginal population maintains cows as domestic animals.

What to do for Caring Cows?

This is the most important aspect of caring for the cows. Cows can be fed with hay, silage, grains, green fodder, or even let them graze green grass and other plants in the open fields, if available. Availability of plenty of clean drinking water is crucial for rearing and caring cows. Dairy cows need high-quality foodstuffs rich in calcium, phosphorus, protein, and energy. This will ensure the quality of the milk produced and good health of the cows.

Taking Care of Herd Health

Herd health is a critical aspect of caring cows. Herd health refers to the general well-being of the entire herd of cattle owned by an individual or organization. This may be a small number of 2-5 cattle or even in 100s. Keeping up-to-date with vaccinations, de-worming and de-liceing programs ensure herd health.

Monitoring Herd Health

Despite the precision vaccination or other preventive health care practices, maintaining absolute success in ensuring the herd health of the cows is difficult to attain. Therefore, keeping vigil of the health of the cows is highly recommended as one of the best practices in caring cows for domestication. Infectious diseases like mastitis, viral infections, etc. and lameness are some of the common issues faced in cow farming. In case of detection of such ailments, the issue to be solved immediately with proper medical intervention.

Keeping Clean Bedding for the Cows

The cows should be provided with clean and fresh bedding and the bedding should be changed every day, in order to get clean milk and maintain the cows in good health. Milking on unhygienic beds leads to higher chances of developing mastitis. Hence it is very important to maintain hygienic condition in the cow sheds and providing fresh bedding for caring cows.

Milking the Cows

Milking the cows should be scheduled at regular intervals, generally twice a day. Maintaining a regular time schedule, preferably the same hours of the day for milking is another best practice in caring cows. In the case of high milk yielding cow breeds, milking thrice a day is also in practice.

Breeding the Cows

Breeding the cows necessitates advice from experts, so as to maintain good herds. Natural or artificial insemination with selected bulls on right time of the estrus of the cows are crucial in raising a good herd of cattle. Caring cows during gestation and immediately after calving plays a pivotal role in dairy farming. Proper monitoring of the growth and health conditions of the calves is imperative for raising continuous batches of healthy cattle for dairy or draught purpose.