Cows are pets. Meat breeds of cows

Description.
The cow is in 6th place in terms of cost recovery rate, despite the fact that the animal is large, consumes daily a large number of food and water. By the standards of the animal world, a relatively long-lived cow (about 30 years old) can be productive for 20-23 years, it takes about 3 years to fully develop, after this age, the calf will exceed the mark of 100-150 kg., When as an adult has a weight in the region of half a ton. In a temperate continental climate, the following are bred cow breeds :

Kholmogory cows. High immunity and resistance to frost, but the quality of milk is different, depending on the specific cow.
Yaroslavl cows. High milk yield, good fertility.
Bestuzhev cows. Poorly suited for milking, but good for meat.
Holstein cows. Despite the fact that the animal is very capricious and whimsical, it gives high-quality high-fat milk.

Cow care.
The herd must have a barn, where each individual is assigned a personal stall, the room must meet all the requirements. the animal is quite capricious to the conditions of detention (the temperature is constant, not higher than 18 C), if the temperature measurements are not observed, apathy begins, problems with milking. The cowshed itself is usually made of a wooden frame, but recently aerated concrete and foam concrete have been used, these materials are the most hygienic and durable.
Good health, and therefore productivity, depends entirely on the care of the animal. For this, the following conditions exist:

Cows should have a walking area, but always with a canopy where you can hide from extreme heat (they cannot tolerate heat and can get heatstroke) and rain (a wet animal can get sick).
There should be tubs of water and lickers (lumps of salt that cows love to lick when calcium is deficient) on the paddock.
There should be bright lighting in the stalls, especially in winter, lamps of at least 40 watts.
In winter, the cow must not be released in temperatures below -15 C.
If in winter period, the humidity of the air outside is too high, it is better to cover the udder with a special cape so that the skin does not crack or peel off.
It is important to remember that a cow is a sociable animal and for proper development, the animal must have communication with its relatives, the minimum social circle is 5 individuals. If there is no such circle, cows should be walked along with other animals.

Ration.
The main product of a cow is hay, it requires at least 4 kg per 100 kg of animal weight. Also, the cow should receive at least 3 kg of succulent feed, such feed includes potatoes, beets, tops, carrots and many other vegetables and fruits. The ideal meal per day for a half-ton cow is as follows:

7-8 kg of hay.
3 kg. succulent food.
3 ku bran or concentrates.

And in the summer, the basis of nutrition is pasture with a small addition of succulent food.
Signs of a healthy individual.

Protruding eyes with pure white.
Widely spaced nipples.
The skin should be elastic, without flaking.
Neck with many folds (but not fat).
The head is held high and light.
The udder is undamaged, hairy and taut to the touch.
The rear should not be hanging (this will significantly complicate calving).
The horns are small but strong.

Breeding cows.
A cow is considered sexually mature after 18 months, but the ability to reproduce appears as early as 8 months. Heifers have their own cycle of sexual calm and sexual activity, if there was no fertilization, the cycle repeats again. In a cow, the hunting period is repeated every 21 days, and the duration is about 10 hours (the duration of the desire depends on the season, in spring up to 15 hours, and in winter no more than 9). During these hours, the cow behaves completely naturally, often mooing, arching, eating poorly, but drinking a lot, her genitals also swell. They are usually washed so that contact with the male does not bring infection inside. Pregnancy lasts quite a long time, but exact time depends on the age of the cow, a cow "in the prime of life" takes out a calf in 250 days, the older ones carry a brood for a month, two longer. During pregnancy, the animal becomes more sensitive to external stimuli and closer to childbirth shy, at this time milking must be completely stopped, otherwise you can get a frail brood. If healthy, childbirth takes place without the help of a person and in a short time, the calf is placed on clean burlap and the mucus is removed from the nostrils if the baby cannot “blow its nose” on its own.

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Dear readers! We present to your attention the chapter of the book of our permanent author, the head of the blog " MOIP says...”, Professor of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov Anatoly Sadchikov. The book has a working title of "The Tale of a Little Neanderthal" and is nearing completion. As the author himself says, it is difficult to say whether it will succeed, whether there will be enough skill and patience to complete it, and most importantly, whether it will be interesting to the reader. It will be known only after its completion. But we decided to publish one of the chapters that seemed interesting to us.

This story happened several tens of thousands of years ago. Most likely, in the vast expanses of the Middle East, where the biotopes of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons (our immediate ancestors) regularly intersected. The book tells about primitive people who lived in those distant times, their way of life, and, of course, love. Even when people walked in skins, lived in caves, hunted mammoths, they fell in love and sometimes did rash acts because of love. Primitive girls also preened, painted, flirted with young people. Fifteen types of paints that women used to be attractive have survived to this day.

People in those distant times were not much different from us. They also loved their children and, at times, sacrificed their lives for them. Women loved their men, and those loved their wives. It could not be otherwise, because men were the fathers of their children, breadwinners and protectors. In those difficult times, only the well-being of the family, the well-being of fellow tribesmen made it possible for a person to survive. Love for loved ones has never been a burden to a person, neither now, nor in those distant times.

Man became a man not only because he adapted to walk on two legs and learned how to make tools. He became a man through love for his neighbors, and not only for members of his family, but also for his fellow tribesmen. Even wild animals, for example, a wolf and a she-wolf, touchingly relate to each other and to their cubs. primitive people respectfully treated the elderly, who were a source of knowledge for the members of the tribe.

A man became a man, that is why he developed a craving for beauty and the joy of creativity. He began to express his feelings in the form of rock paintings, sculptural images, moreover, this was not done by "professional artists", but by the most ordinary people. Our children from the earliest years draw, sculpt, listen and sing songs with pleasure. This internal property of a person, ultimately, contributed to the development of various crafts in the future.

Only rock carvings and clay images have survived to this day, and how many other types of art that have not been preserved! The figurines of women, most likely, were images of wives and beloved girls, and not some obscure “goddesses”. They were made, again, not by "professional sculptors", but by the most ordinary hunters who took them with them on a hunt and looked at them in moments of rest, remembering their relatives. For some, they turned out better, for others worse, but this hardly made them less loved by their owners. This is no different from the photographs of our loved ones that we carry with us or keep on the tables of our offices.

Man became man because he began to use fire. Fire is warm, especially for children and the elderly. Thanks to the heat, the number of colds has decreased, and, accordingly, infant mortality and the mortality of the elderly have decreased. After all, these two categories of people, the most exposed to various risks, require special care. An increase in the number of species (including primitive man) is associated with a decrease in child mortality, an increase in the life expectancy of an adult. Old people are a special category. They have always been a source of knowledge, a storehouse of wisdom, educators of grandchildren. And now between grandchildren and grandfathers often there are warmer and more trusting relationships than between children and parents.

Bonfire, fire contributed to the unification of the team. Around the fire, people exchanged opinions, talked about their successes. The fire rallied people, removed aggressive moods. Let's remember our gatherings around the fires or the fireplace.

The main character of the story is a boy, later a young man and an adult man. He was the son of a Neanderthal woman and a Cro-Magnon father, our immediate ancestor (in fact, different types of people). They met and fell in love. In nature different types animals do not interbreed. To prevent this from happening, there are many restrictions: physiological, morphological, behavioral, geographical. That's why he is a man, to do crazy things, as a result of which they had a son.

Scientists continue to argue whether Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons married each other, whether their children were viable, although the skeletons of such hybrids have been repeatedly found. Recently, information has appeared that we have a small number of Neanderthal genes (about 5%). This indicates that Neanderthals are not extinct, they are part of us.

The boy had to endure many hardships and hardships in life. He lost his parents, lived alone, was constantly on the verge of death. The qualities that he received from his father and mother helped him survive in difficult conditions and take a worthy place in life. His mother gave him one best qualities Neanderthals are devotion and self-sacrifice for the sake of family, friends and fellow tribesmen. The second quality that he acquired from his parents is the ability to learn.

For the sake of a friend - a dog, the boy had to leave the tribe. To save her life, he fled with her. Alone, a person could not survive in those difficult times, especially a child, but he survived. The dog was his true friend. However, again, kindness and self-sacrifice helped him in everything. Thanks to these qualities, the boy managed to tame a bull and a cow, which became his friends. He left the dying old man, and he became a mentor for the boy, helped him, taught the wisdom of life.

The boy grew up, became a young man, a successful hunter. He returned to the tribe from which he had once left in order to marry the girl with whom he had played in early childhood. It was she who warned the boy about the decision of the elders of the tribe to kill all the dogs (including him) that lived near their camp. He remembered the girl and thought about her all the time. The girl knew where the boy was hiding, but in order not to bring trouble on him, she did not tell anyone about it. She remembered him, and all this time she was mentally next to him. In night dreams she flew to him, watched his life, mentally helped him.

They grew up and became adults. The girl had been waiting for him all this time. She has turned into a beautiful girl. Young people decided to get married, but her father, the leader of the tribe, had other plans. The leader wanted to unite several tribes through marriage. The young man was not part of his plans. He was alone, he had no one but friends - a dog, a bull and an old man - there was no one. But love and friendship always win. So it was in those days, and so it is now.

Of course, there is a lot of fiction in the book, for that it is a work of art, where the author has the right to dream up a little.

BOY AND COW. WHO TAMED WHO?

The process of domestication of large animals, such as bulls and cows, proceeded, as in the case of the dog, by the gradual formation of a close union between man and ancestor. domestic cow- semi-forest bull-round. In those days, the tour lived in the temperate zone of Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and North Africa. He was hunted by driven hunters, moreover, quite successfully. About 10 thousand years ago, hunters got so good at catching aurochs that they could not kill them in front of the herd, and if they did, it looked like a tournament of two rival individuals. Rock paintings show that the fight between a man and a bull was somewhat reminiscent of a Spanish bullfight, which in most cases ended in the victory of a man.

The wild bull lived in the steppes and forest-steppes, where he ate coarse food: in the summer - grass, twigs, shoots, leaves of shrubs and not big trees. In winter, he migrated to the forests, where he switched to feeding on branch food, lichens, gnawed the bark, ate dry grass, tearing the snow with his hooves.

These were powerful animals with a muscular body, a height at the withers up to 180 cm and a bull weighing up to 800 kg. The females were slightly smaller, 300-500 kg. The bulls had a large and high-set head, crowned with long and sharp horns. Such a head is necessary for eating rough food. After all, to chew the branches, you need a powerful chewing apparatus. The horns were directed slightly forward and sideways. They are good for repelling predators attacking from below, such as wolves. The legs of the bulls were of moderate length, indicating that the aurochs did not make long marches.

The coloration of adult bulls was black, with a narrow light “belt” along the back, while females and young animals were reddish-brown.

They lived in small herds led by a huge bull and several younger bulls. In the summer, young males and large bulls lived separately from the herd and only during mating season and in winter they united with everyone, which allowed them to more effectively defend themselves from predator attacks. natural enemies aurochs had few, male bulls coped with any predator, of course, with the exception of a man who successfully hunted them. Wolves mainly hunted young, newborn and sick animals, especially in winter, with deep snow. When attacked by a pack of wolves, the bulls organized a circular defense, inside which there were females and young animals. Even the largest pack of wolves did not dare to break through such defenses and break into the circle.

The mating season fell on autumn, males in tournaments sometimes fought to the point of blood, revealing the leader in this way. The calves were born in the spring, in April-May, when the grass was already appearing. Shortly before calving, the females retired to the thicket of the forest or dense bush and remained there until the calf got stronger. Then they returned to the herd again. These newborn calves were most often hunted by wolves. In some cases, they were able to recapture a calf from a young and inexperienced mother. Some wolves distracted the mother's attention, while others attacked the calf. In a large herd, it was much more difficult to do this, because. powerful bulls and adult females always came to the rescue.

In addition, wolves successfully hunted sick animals (wounded or affected by infectious diseases). Wolves by appearance determined the presence of such animals and began to pursue the herd. There is evidence that predators by smell can determine the presence of sick animals that smell completely different than healthy ones. They drove the herd until the sick animal weakened and fell behind. Then they dealt with him. However, there was a certain ecological sense in this. Wolves were removed from the herd of sick animals, thereby eliminating the source of the spread of infection.

What was the close union of man and wild animals? To better understand, let's start a little from afar. Each herd had its own territory of several tens of square kilometers. The area of the territory can be more or less, depending on the amount of vegetation on it, the productivity of the territory. The better the soil was, and the more grass grew on it, the less territory the animals needed.

Animals on their territory had natural routes along which they moved. This allowed the grass to grow back after the animals had eaten or trampled it. Let's take a look at the herd of domestic animals. They never eat grass completely. Animals are always on the move. This allows the grass to grow. The excrement (dung) that the animals left was used by the caprophagous beetles (dung beetles) to feed or hatch the larvae. Minerals are eventually returned to the soil and reused by plants. As a result, the circle is closed.

People wandered behind the herd, not allowing predators and other hunters to pursue it. For "their work" they took tribute from animals, in kind, moreover, they made sure that the murder did not take place in front of the herd. For this, special techniques were developed, captured in ancient rock paintings. For a herd of bulls, a person gradually became the same symbiont, like, for example, the union of antelopes or zebras with ostriches. Antelopes, zebras graze next to ostriches and monitor their behavior. Ostriches have long necks and excellent eyesight. They notice an approaching predator from afar and warn everyone of the danger. Another example. Hyenas are constantly watching the vultures soaring in the air. Those from above are clearly visible around. As soon as they notice carrion, they begin to circle around it. Hyenas immediately rush to the place in order to have time to take part in the feast.

If a person behaves peacefully in the herd, the born calves will be less and less afraid of a person with each generation. A calf in infancy captures in its memory not only the members of its herd, but also a person who is among cows and bulls. And the bulls will perceive him as an ally in the fight against predators and in search of good pastures. So, most likely, nomadic tribes of people were formed, who later became pastoralists.

Approximately the same thing can be observed among some northern peoples - deer herders. The main task of reindeer herders is to protect the herd from wolves and find better pastures. And the rest of the animals are left to themselves. The desert nomads do not feed the camels or even herd them. They dig wells and raise water to the surface, thus expanding the access of camels to the natural pastures of the deserts.

At first, people and tours roamed along the paths of traditional animal migration routes. Later, people, apparently, learned to control the movement of the herd, which allowed them to develop new spaces and rich pastures. It is assumed that in this way people with their bulls migrated to the Middle East, and then to North Africa. The latter was captured in thousands of rock paintings in the Sahara, which, due to the dry climate, brought to us the life and life of nomadic pastoralists.

Such a herd of bulls and cows lived not far from the boy's dwelling. He often saw them, mostly from afar, because. he was afraid to approach huge bulls, which he only got to the stomach. After all, the length of some bulls reached three meters, and the height at the withers - up to two meters. The herd moved in circles, appearing from time to time in the area where the boy usually hunted small animals.

It should be noted that the animals did not just roam the steppe wherever their eyes looked. They had their own paths, places where animals ate, rested, bathed in "dusty" baths or fought in tournaments. Huge trees or rocks were used by them to put their bodies in order. Animals periodically scratched about them, leaving their smell and tufts of wool. Because of this, the bark of trees and the surface of the rocks became smooth and polished. Every morning, the animals went to the watering hole, where they went knee-deep into the water, slowly drinking it. In the hot summer they came to the shallow waters of lakes up to their waists, enjoying the coolness. The bulls marked their territory, left marks, and their smell. For this, they used large trees, stones, where they itched. Puddles of urine, the soil dug up by powerful hooves, all this meant that the territory was occupied, and other bulls were strictly forbidden to enter it.

The boy several times saw a herd of animals grazing in the distance, not daring to approach them. One day their paths crossed. A herd of bulls and cows with calves came out of a small grove. They moved slowly across the steppe, periodically tearing off the tops of the grass. The boy, not moving, stood literally ten paces from the herd. He was hypnotized. It was both fear and admiration for these animals, they were so huge. From the herd came the smell characteristic of bulls and cows. The boy had a good sense of smell, smelled them from afar, could easily run away and hide, but the herd, like a magnet, attracted him, hypnotized him with its appearance and power.

The herd paid no attention to the boy. Only the leader stopped, looked askance at him and went on. The boy was so small and posed no great danger to them.

The boy saw these animals for the first time, and they seemed to him so majestic that they aroused inner awe. The boy's father brought the meat of these bulls from the hunt. The boy had already eaten it, but they were pieces of meat, and here in front of him was a huge creature. At that moment, he did not even have a desire in his thoughts that these bulls could be eaten.

He stood silent. The herd slowly passed by. A small calf came out of the herd - a teenager and went to the boy, lowering his head with piercing horns. He wanted to play and show his strength at the same time. The boy with all his might hit him with a stick that he held in his hand. The calf jumped to the side, as he did not expect such agility from a small creature. The herd ignored the incident. The children were not interested in playing.

The herd is gone. Soon a young cow, lagging behind the herd, appeared. She mumbled plaintively, constantly looking around, looking for someone. The swollen udder indicated that she had a calf she had recently lost. Perhaps she gave birth to a dead baby, which sometimes happens with young cows. Perhaps it was repulsed by wolves, which in the spring attack young animals, and most often newborns. Be that as it may, the calf was not near the cow, and she suffered greatly from this.

The cow came up to the boy, sniffed him and began to lick him. At first, the boy was very frightened, but the rough tongue tickled so pleasantly that he began to laugh. He laughed so joyfully and serenely for the first time since the death of his mother, and this happened a very long time ago. He was pleasant, funny and ticklish. At that moment, he felt the warmth of his mother, the mother, not the cow. Then, in a fit of spiritual feelings, he hugged the cow, began to kiss it gently, lick it. He was hugging a cow, and in front of him stood the image of his mother with red hair. The smell and presence of the cow made the boy feel secure. The boy began to cry, they were tears of joy from the fact that he found his mother, about whom he suffered and grieved so much. They stood like that for several minutes. I want to draw your attention, dear reader, the smell of cows, the cowshed does not cause us a feeling of disgust, most likely it seems pleasant to us. Isn't it from here?

The boy's feelings were transferred to the cow. She freed her head and pushed it under her stomach, as if offering her milk. Her udder was swollen and painful. The boy was hungry and wanted to eat. Not understanding what was happening, he clung to the nipples and began to drink milk eagerly. The boy experienced great satisfaction, and not only from the pleasant-tasting milk. He experienced great bliss that he found his mother, who fed him. Satisfied, he hugged the cow again and wept. The cow was also happy that she had found her "calf".

The dog sat aside and looked at them knowingly. The boy called her to introduce him to his mother. The cow at another time would have angrily driven her away, but this time she sniffed knowingly, because it was her son's friend.

The cow later became a nurse for the boy, a second mother, and the boy for the cow became her cub, “calf”. The cow took into account the negative experience of losing the calf, so she did not let anyone near the boy.

A similar thing is happening at the present time. Research by scientists has shown that if a cub is taken away from a female who has given birth for the first time and begins to suck milk, her parental instinctive feelings switch to the sucker. In the future, she will not only not attack the adopted child, but will also begin to care for him, feed, lick, protect him.

Each of us, perhaps, will remember many similar cases. There was a report in the press that Kaluga region the foresters saw how a she-bear with cubs wandered through the forest along with a heifer. In Bulgaria, hunters observed an unusual family consisting of wolves and a wild boar. It turned out that the pig even lived in their lair. So it is unlikely that bears and wolves raised a heifer and a wild boar in order to eat them later. In all such cases, animals treat their adopted children with amazing tenderness. Children grow up, live their own lives, but attachment to their parents persists for many years.

There are many examples when animals of one species feed the young of another. There are especially many such cases in zoos, when mothers, for one reason or another, abandon their children. Therefore, zoo workers have to look for a foster mother, which is most often dogs or cats.

Having fed the foster child, the cow followed the herd. She was no longer crying, no longer looking for the lost calf, she found it. The boy in the pack was accepted quite calmly, one might say, they were not surprised by the two-legged creature, especially since the cow, when the aggressive intentions of the members of the herd were manifested, zealously defended him. Each member of the herd, including huge bulls, approached the boy and sniffed him for a long time. After all, he had his own smell, different from the smell of the herd, a “bouquet” of human smell with the smell of the skin that served him as clothes, the smell of a dog and the smoke of a fire. They accepted the boy into the herd, and they had to get to know him, first of all, imprint his smell in their memory. Indeed, in most animals, the sense of smell is better developed than hearing and, especially, vision.

Having satisfied their curiosity, the cows and bulls went about their business. So the boy remained in the herd. No one drove the dog away either, did not attack it, especially since at first it did not leave the boy and the cow.

The herd spent the night in a small grove, which protected it from prying eyes. Cows with calves settled in the middle of the herd, and bulls - on the periphery, and they lay down so as to see the whole space. The cows and calves rested, and the bulls were on their guard all the time.

The cow found a dry patch of grass and lay down. The kid perched nearby, he snuggled up to her warm body and fell asleep peacefully, for the first time while he was alone. He did not sleep so calmly even in his cave. The dog lay next to me, a little apart. She slept separately from the boy for the first time in a long time. Over time, she got used to the cow, and they all three lay warming each other.

The herd woke up early. First of all, the cow licked the boy's face and hands, then gave him milk to drink. The boy was blissful. How good it is to be with a mother who will always feed, warm and protect from trouble! It was easy and fun for him, he was happy that he had found a family and his mother. The desire of a baby, a child to find a family is a subconscious feeling of all living things, including people.

Then he collected a bundle of dry and tough grass, crushed it and began to rub the sides of the cow with a kind of brush. She stood without moving, she was so pleased. After all, it is customary for animals to provide such services to each other. Cows and bulls often lick each other, thereby massaging certain parts of the body, especially bruised places. Our cats and dogs are thrilled when we pet and scratch them. In addition, animals like to scratch their bodies against trees or rocks.

So the boy became a member of the herd of bulls and cows. Adult animals did not offend him, even when he came too close to them. With young calves, he played catch-up, ran after them or, on the contrary, ran away from them. This continued until the mother cows called the babies to feed them. The boy besieged strong calves with a blow or a wave of a stick. The calves were large, so any careless push on their part overturned the light boy to the ground. The calves quickly understood what this wave meant, and it immediately brought them to their senses.

The boy cleansed the body of not only his mother cow, but also other cows, including mighty bulls. Some animals themselves approached him and substituted their sides and backs. The animals were especially annoyed by all kinds of ticks, horseflies and other bloodsuckers. The gadfly larvae were under the skin, causing an unpleasant itch. Thorns have settled in the body of many animals, and quite large ones at that. The boy took them out with his fingers and teeth, and smeared the wounds with saliva. He unraveled the wool, removed the burdocks that hung in clusters on some animals.

So that bloodsucking insects would not annoy the animals, after the inspection procedure, he rubbed the body of cows and bulls with wormwood, chamomile, tansy, mint and other odorous herbs. Their smell repelled these insects.

Animals liked such procedures, especially since they were natural for them. Bulls and cows regularly scratched themselves on the trunks of large trees, licked each other. But the boy did it more effectively, he destroyed the bloodsuckers in places inaccessible to the animal, scratched them where they could not reach with their tongue, and healed small wounds and abrasions. Therefore, the animals were not afraid of his touches and procedures, which were sometimes painful for them.

The boy was pleased to be on the back of the bulls, so when he finished his work, he continued to sit or lie on the huge back. Some animals allowed him such liberties. Sitting on the back of a bull, the boy surveyed the expanses of the steppe.

Sometimes the boy deliberately climbed onto his back big bulls. He pretended to inspect the bull's body, then climbed onto its back and scratched it with a makeshift brush. Then he lay on his mighty back, exposing his body to the sun's rays and the wind. It was an incomparable pleasure to sit on the back of a mighty bull and feel his strength flow into you. This is probably the first time in the history of mankind when a wild animal allowed a person to ride on himself. When the bull got tired of the rider, he threw it off and moved on. The offended boy went to his mother cow, who began to lick and feed him.

The fact that the bulls let the boy ride them was not surprising, because. in natural conditions, some birds often "ride" on large animals. Birds often perch on the backs of grazing cows or sheep and wait for insects to fly out from under their hooves. Then the birds deal with them. Sometimes you can see grazing buffaloes with herons on their backs. They peck at insects that plague mighty animals. And outwardly it seems that the birds "ride" on buffaloes. Buffalo starlings constantly follow or sit on herds of grazing buffalo, cows, camels, elephants, rhinoceros, antelopes and other large animals (which is how they got their name). They peck at blood-filled ticks, larvae of various gadflies that hide under the skin of the animal. Starlings peck horseflies from all parts of the body, including from the abdomen. Animals seem to treat these birds with true friendliness and let them do their thing without brushing them off.

Despite his young age, the boy understood that the bull's back had a huge advantage. He is not afraid of wolves and other predatory animals here, he can rest on his back and at the same time move around the steppe. Most importantly, with a herd of bulls and cows, you can go to the waterless steppe for long distances, far from water bodies. The bulls always returned in the evening to the watering place. On the back of the bull, you can put several waterskins with water, which the boy himself could hardly carry.

Some time has passed. The amount of milk in the cow began to gradually decrease, because her real calf should already grow up by this time and switch to eating grass. Usually cows feed calves for no more than 5-6 months. The boy had to constantly think about his food. Therefore, he continued to collect tubers and rhizomes of plants, catch small animals, insects, mainly locusts - edible locusts, grasshoppers, fillies, which he ate alive or roasted at the stake. He still caught gophers, marmots and all those who came across to him. He caught lizards, snakes, birds and roasted them on a fire. The dog was always there, always hunting with the boy.

The boy cooked food on a fire, which bred herds at the resting place. In the open steppe, there were no tree branches, so he used dung, dried cow cakes, as fuel. They, unlike tree branches, dry grass, did not burn with a bright flame, but smoldered, giving a lot of heat.

Cows, including his mother, did not approach the fire, they were afraid of him. Then they sniffed the boy for a long time, remembering this new smell for them. Gradually, they began to get used to the fire, ceased to be afraid, although they shunned it. Old bulls and cows knew the power of fire. During a thunderstorm, dry grass sometimes caught fire, and then all living things tried to hide from the scorching flame, although not everyone succeeded. Therefore, they shunned the fire that the boy kindled.

One day, the herd realized that the fire in the boy's hands could be a boon to the herd. The boy lit a small fire on which he fried his own food. Suddenly a pack of wolves appeared. At this time of the year they did not attack the bulls, other food is enough for them. After all, wolves feed not only on large animals, but also on rodents. They were not going to attack, but the bulls immediately stood in a ring, lowered their heads, prepared to defend themselves. The boy didn't hesitate. Without hesitation, he snatched a burning branch from the fire and rushed at the flock. They fled in panic.

There was always a dog next to the boy. At first, the herd avoided her, the bulls, lowering their heads, drove away, then they got used to it and stopped paying attention. On cold nights, the boy and the dog slept together next to the cow in an embrace.

To please his mother cow, the boy dug up plant bulbs in the steppe and fed them to her and the mighty bulls. The bulbs were a delicacy for them.

The amount of grass in the steppe began to decrease, and every day the herd moved further and further away from the boy's cave. Sooner or later the herd had to leave these places. Man, unlike bulls, cannot live in the open. During the rain, the skin with which he covered his body got wet, and it was cold and unpleasant to sleep in this form on the bare ground. Therefore, the boy had to leave the herd and return to his cave.

The parting with the mother cow was touching, the boy hugged the cow, and she licked his face. The boy was both happy and sad. The rough tongue of the cow pleasantly tickled his face, which made him cheerful. And parting with the cow, which was also his mother, tore his heart. He feared that he would never see her again. There was a real drama in the boy's heart. He lost his real mother, then found an adoptive mother who sincerely loved him. Now he has to part with her again.

The herd left, but the boy remained. He often came to the place where the animals usually grazed and looked into the distance for a long time, where they had gone. Each time his heart ached, because a person cannot live alone, especially at such a young age. The herd was his family, his relatives, and his mother was in it.

When the boy lay in his cave, he tried to remember the face of his own mother, and the image of a cow often appeared in front of him. He could no longer understand who he missed more, his own mother or the mother cow.

The herd left, but the faithful dog remained with him. She had children, her own dog affairs, but she never left the boy. For her, he was a member of her dog pack.

Cow is a female of the domesticated subspecies of the wild bull.

Males are called bulls, young animals are called calves or heifers.

The life expectancy of bulls is 15-20 years. But in large modern farms a cow is usually used for only 3-4 years.

Cow body temperature, respiratory rate, pulse

The body temperature of a cow is 37.5-39.5 C. In young animals, 38.5-40 C.
The respiratory rate of cows is 12-25. Young animals have 30-70 respiratory movements per minute.
Pulse 50-80 beats per minute. The young have 120-160 beats per minute.

cow feeding

Drinking modes

The water content in the body of a cow is 60%. Without water, the animal can live no more than 4-8 days, while without food it will last 30-40 days. The temperature of the water for drinking adult cows should be at least 10-12 C, and for young cows 15-30 C, therefore, when drinking animals on the street, it is necessary to install heated drinking bowls, or pour warm water into troughs and make sure that its temperature was in a comfortable range.

The optimal mode of watering cows when using automatic drinking bowls is 12-21 single waterings in small portions. Individual and group drinkers are industrially produced. Individual drinkers are suitable for tie-down housing. Group drinkers are used for loose stall and stall-camp grazing. When using group drinkers, care should be taken to ensure that the watering front per cow is at least 60 cm.

In the absence of automatic drinkers, cows are watered 3 times a day. Animals are most likely to drink immediately after milking or feeding.

Every minute the body of a cow loses with milk up to 0.6 g. protein, 0.66 gr. fat and 0.8 gr. lactose. Such intense loads require timely replenishment of losses due to benign balanced feed.

A high-dairy cow should receive about 30 kg. feed per day. The use of group feeders requires providing cows with a feeding front 70-80 cm wide for each.

Diet of cows

The diet of cows depends on belonging to the age and sex group and the economic group (bulls, dairy cows, young animals, fattening calves). In dairy cows, the diet depends on the physiological state of the animal. Distinguish between feeding during the dry period, gestational period and lactation period.

Bulls-producers need enhanced feeding. In winter, food is given to them 2-3 times a day, in summer the number of feedings increases and is brought up to 3-4 times. In their content, only fresh and high-quality feeds are used, balanced in nutrients, vitamins and microelements.

The main task of feeding sires is to constantly maintain them in factory condition and prevent emaciation or obesity, therefore, during the period intensive use feeding rates increase, and with a decrease in activity, they decrease.

Particularly complex and varied is the feeding of young animals, which is due to the rapid development and the frequent change in diet associated with it. In the first 30-60 minutes after birth, the calf needs to drink the mother's colostrum. It is best to bottle feed your baby. Drinking colostrum from a bucket can lead to the formation of a dense clot of colostrum in the abomasum of the calf and dyspepsia. In the first days, calves are fed 5-6 times a day, gradually with increasing portions, reducing the frequency of feeding.

During the milk period, calves are fed with special dietary feed additives (acidophilic yogurt, lysozyme, oat milk, artificial colostrum). During the first 10-20 days, calves are gradually accustomed to eating concentrated and roughage, that is, compound feed and hay. Milk is fed to calves until they reach the age of 1.5 months, they are returned from the age of one month, hay and concentrates from the age of two months, and silage from the age of four months.

In total, from the moment of birth to the age of 6 months, a rapidly growing calf consumes about: 200-250 kg. milk, 400-450 kg. reverse, 2.5 centners of hay, 4 c. silo and 1.5 c. root crops and concentrates.

Young cows at the age of 12-14 months or adult animals are put on fattening, 70-90 days before slaughter, in order to bring them to condition.

It is necessary to distinguish between fattening and feeding. The first involves keeping animals indoors and actively feeding for a short period (70 days for adult animals and 90 for young animals). Feeding is fattening produced on grazing, most often using a driven method of grazing pastures. Feeding requires less feed compared to fattening, but takes longer (90 for adult animals and 120-150 days for young animals).

When placing cows for fattening, the first 5-10 days they are accustomed to new feed. Very often, agricultural waste is used for fattening: bard, pulp, potato pulp. In addition, they give the usual food for cows: hay, haylage, silage, concentrated and green fodder. When fattening on stillage and pulp, you need to carefully monitor the condition of the food, as it can quickly turn sour and cause poisoning.

Normally, an adult cow should receive 60-80 kg per day, and young animals 40-50 kg. bards. In addition to it, additional hay or other roughage is given at the rate of 1-1.5 kg. for every 100 kg. the mass of the animal.

With good feeding and maintenance, fattening young animals should be added daily by 900-1000 gr.

Fattening cows are not only actively fed, but they are also provided with conditions that further accelerate fattening. Plots of bleed are located in close proximity to each other and from places of drinking, in order to avoid long hauls. Water animals abundantly 2-3 times a day.

The diet of dairy cows depends on their condition. During lactation, the cow receives a complete ration, consisting of hay, haylage, concentrates, green fodder is introduced into the ration in summer, and silage is added in winter.

PETS

I want to talk about a pet - a cow. A cow is a very useful animal for humans. Meat, milk, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter - all this is given to us by a cow. The cow has horns with which it defends itself when it senses danger. The cow also has an udder from which the milk is drained. A cow gives us 25 liters of milk a day, that's almost three big buckets! Milk is very good for health: it contains a lot of vitamins. Cows communicate with each other with the help of lowing, they unmistakably find their way home.

Cows feed on succulent grass in summer and hay in winter.

A cow lives 15-18 years. Her age can be determined by her horns. With each birth of a calf, a new ring appears on the horns of a cow.

If there are a lot of cows on the farm, then they all live in the barn. Cows sleep in it, and in winter they save themselves from frost and blizzards. Cowsheds are large warm sheds with thick walls, floors and ceilings. The light is always on in them. In the barn, each cow has its own separate “room”. There is a drinking bowl for water and a feeder for food. In summer, cows are taken out to meadows (pastures) where they eat fresh grass.

The message was prepared by Dolgushin Artem student 1 "a" class

MOU secondary school No. 43, Magnitogorsk

Cow - a familiar pet!

Cow - artiodactyl, ruminant, mammal of the bovid family. It is a source of milk and meat. Young offspring of cows are called calves, adult males are called bulls.

This is a fairly large animal. The average weight of a cow is about 400 kilograms, the maximum weight is about 1 ton. The color is the most diverse, and usually depends on the breed. Most often there are cows of black and white, black, brown color. The length of the horns usually does not exceed 20 centimeters, but they are also longer.

Cow is a herbivore ruminant. During the day, he can eat about 50 kilograms of food and drink 40 liters of water. Cows are grazing on pastures with grass, no more than 20 centimeters high, as the cow avoids tall grass. When there is not enough food, the cow can eat tree branches, bushes. In winter, in the absence of fresh grass, cows are fed with harvested hay.

In modern animal husbandry, there are about 300 breeds of cattle. According to their purpose, cows are divided into meat breeds, such as Hereford, Charolais, and others.

Meat - dairy breeds, for example - Shorthorn. There are also dairy breeds that give the maximum amount of milk compared to others.

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