All about Dairy Cows - tlsbooks.com

1 1US Department of AgricultureAgricultural Research ServiceNational Agricultural LibraryGrade Level: ElementaryAll about Dairy Cows2 Who started Dairy farming?No one reallyknows how longago peoplestarted milkingcows, or howthey discoveredthat milk was good for us to drink. 3 AurochAuroch skeletonAt least 10,000 years ago, cave menraised Dairy cattle. Their cattle werecalled are not native to America. Columbus brought cattlewith him on his second voyage to the New World. When the Pilgrims made their voyages, it became Englishlaw that each ship coming to the new world had to carryone cow for each five ships's captain would then sell the cattle and thatwould bring the captain a little income. In 1843, a New Yorker by the name of Peter Dunnpurchased a cow from asea captain. The cow wassick with a disease called Contagious BovinePleuropneumonia (CBPP). That cow made the othercows sick. A largenumber of cows died.

2 Thishappened three differenttimes over a 40 was responsible for getting rid of the disease in the1890' SwissMilking ShorthornHolsteinWhat kinds of cows make milk?The large, black and white Holstein is the most common milk producing cow. Other breedsinclude Guernseys, Jerseys, Brown Swiss, Ayrshires, and Milking : Counting CowsThe next time you travel along a highway try to match thepictures and count the Dairy cows that you :_____Guernsey:_____Jersey:_____Brown Swiss:_____Milking Shorthorn:_____Holstein:_____8 How can you tell Holstein cows apart?A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprintor a snowflake. No two cows haveexactly the same pattern of CowBull, if castrated SteerCow FamiliesA female cow younger than 3 yearsold that has not had a baby is termed aheifer; a male cow is called a bull;and a castrated male is a steer. A Dairy cow is a female that has givenbirth to a baby. That baby is called much milk does a cow produce?

3 The average cowproduces about19,825 pounds ofmilk each 's 2,305gallons of milk ayear or about 8gallons of milkevery day of hermilking s enough for128 people tohave a glass ofmilk every day!11 Each day the Dairy cow can produceup to: 64 quarts milk (256 glasses) or, 14 pounds cheese or, 5 gallons ice cream or, 6 pounds butter12 How much does a cow weigh? When a Holstein cow is milking, sheweighs between 1,100 and 1,500pounds. A Jersey cow weighs between700 and 1,000 no, 1,600 lbs!13 Got cookies?What's all this aboutchewing cud? cows chew their food slightly,then swallow the food. The food goes to the first stomachthen comes back into themouth where they chew it more. Cowshave one stomach that isdivided into four chewing helps cows getthe most out ofdifficult-to-digest foods are even-toedhoofed animals thatregurgitate their food and chew cud. ( cows , sheep, deer,giraffes and camels are ruminants.)

4 14 RuminantsCircle the animal that is not a much does a cow eat? cows are BIG eaters. cows eat 90pounds of food a day! 16Do cows have special teeth for eatinggrass?Cow's teeth are different from ours. On the top front, cows have a tough pad of skin instead of teeth. They have 8 incisors on the bottom front and 6 strongmolars on the top and bottom of each side to grind theirfood. cows have a total of 32 many stomachs does a cowhave?Some people say that a cow has four stomachs. Actually,a cow has one stomach with four a cartoon illustration of the inside of a cow, go to thisweb address: # much water does a cow drink? cows drink 25-50 gallons of water each day. That's nearlya bathtub full. Cartoon cows drink do some cows look like theyhave earrings? Milk cows usually have their ears pierced with tags. Each cow has a different numberthat allows the Dairy farmer totrack her activities by computer.

5 The cow's milk weight is recorded in the computer as wellas any medicines she receives. Do you have pierced ears?20 Please help me to match my pairs oftwins. Draw a line to match the do you say cow?Spanish= vaccaItalian= vaccaPortugese= vacaGerman= kuhDutch = koeEsparanto = bovFrench = vacheJapanese = ushiLatin = bos, bovisFinnish = lehm Swahili = gombe, ng ombeVietnamese = danh t 22 Milking cows Before milking machines were invented (in 1894),farmers could only milk about six cows per hour (whew,that's hard work!). Today, farmers use machines to milk more than 100cows per hour. Many farms also have computers to helptrack how much milk a cow makes. A cow's udder can hold 25-50 pounds of milk at a time --no wonder she's so eager to be milked -- and a cow givesnearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

6 23 Cow Trivia and Useless factsMosquitos like cow blood more than human Moscow Circus has a troupe of dancingcows that dance to Russian music and playfootball. cows clean their noses with their tongues. Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink." You can lead a cow upstairs, but not downstairs. Most cows give more milk when they listen to : Y,N,Y,Y,Y,N,Y,Y,N,NYes or No1. cows spend up to 8 hours per day eating. ____Yes ___No2. A cow has four stomachs. ____Yes ____No3. Dairy cattle have a ancestor named aurochs. ___Yes ___ No4. USDA was formed to get rid of cow ___No5. Can you tell Holstein cows apart? ___Yes ___No6. A female cow is a bull. ___Yes ___No7. The average cow can produce about 20,000 pounds of milk per year. ____Yes ___No8. Cud chewing helps cows to digest their food. ___Yes ___No9. Invitations have been mailed for the ruminant family reunion. Will thekangaroo receive one?

7 ___Yes ___No10. When Columbus arrived in America he found cows . ___Yes ___No25 Additional Information on Dairy CattleLesson On the WebBig Dave s Cow Page: ~dschmi1/ Just cows : ~drewwe/njc/Cow Facts: ~dschmi1/ of Livestock: , Trivia and Facts: into the Aurochs: ~ of Dairy cows : from the AGRICOLA DatabaseAU: Burditt, : Oklahoma State University. Animal Science : Breeds of : [Stillwater, ] : Dept. of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University, [c1995]-CN: DNAL : EnglishAU: McCay, : Continental cattle a century ago [Breeds, history].SO: Ark. Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth : Rare Breeds Survival Trust. July 15, 1984. v. 11 (7)p. 203-206. : DNAL : EnglishAdditional Cyber Resources: about Dairy cows was created by Deborah Y. RichardsonThis document may be copied for distribution. Please copy theentire document. For additional information please Department of AgricultureAgricultural Research ServiceNational Agricultural Library10301 Baltimore AvenueBeltsville, MD 20705 (301) 504-5779 FAX (301) National Agricultural Library (NAL), is the largest agricultural library in the world and is part of the AgriculturalResearch Service (ARS) of the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

8 The library is viewed nationally and internationally as the premiere world resource for agricultural information. NAL's isrole to gather, maintain and make that information accessible. NAL users include federal, state and local governmentscientists and officials; farmers; professors, researchers and students at universities and colleges; educators; private scientificand agricultural organizations; extension agents; business men/women; the news media; and the general United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of race, color,national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, and marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited basesapply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of programinformation (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice andTDD).

9 To file a complaint, write the Secretary of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, Washington,DC 20250, or call 1-800-245-6340 (voice) or 202-720-1127 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity September 2003