common mistakes that dairy farmers make.

common mistakes that dairy farmers make.

Most farmers normally have good intentions when venturing out, but for various reasons, they make some blunders. Here are some:

Buying the Wrong Starter Stock.

This is especially common for first time dairy farmers. If you are not careful, you can start off on the wrong footing by acquiring an animal whose traits don’t resonate with your dairy farming goals.

Most farmers will jump into dairy-farming without much thought or planning.

Good planning will ensure you get the best breed for your region. A good breed is one that will survive in the local climatic conditions, can produce maximally with the available feeds and is resistant to endemic diseases.

To get this right, you need the help of an agricultural extension officer, a vet or livestock production expert. These experts are better placed to understand the previous records of the animal you are buying to postulate on its future productivity.

Poor Animal Husbandry.

Many farmers assume that once they buy a good breed, it is automatic that it will perform well. That is far from the truth. Even with the best breed in town if it is not given good animal husbandry, forget about the high milk yields. Animal husbandry defines how the animal is taken care off on the farm.

It doesn’t make economic sense to invest a lot of money in buying a pedigree dairy animal without a plan on how to take care of it. If you are buying a Holstein be prepared to work hard to get it enough feeds, ensure no tick moves near it and take precaution that it doesn’t suffer mastitis.

Good animal husbandry ensures you are in touch with what is going on in the farm regularly, if not daily.

It also means that you have a herd health programme that works to protect the health of the animal and this means vaccinations, deworming and dipping or spraying.

Best practice also entails ensuring that the animal has adequate feeds that are balanced.