Cow life expectancy: factors and methods of age determination

Everyone knows who can be called the most important wether of all people - a cow. Since childhood, we know the taste of milk, cottage cheese, sour cream, butter. These products are not only very useful, without them it is impossible to cook many delicious dishes. Each hostess will be able to confirm this fact. Hardly anyone of us thinks about the question of how milk appears or how much a cow lives.

Features of the behavior of the cow

For a very long time cows are constantly present in human life, and people were able to accumulate a large amount of information about these animals. For example, how do they eat, eat, drink, and what is the life expectancy of a cow. Also there are very interesting facts, such as cows' partial interest in music. They can recognize it even by the rhythm. Cow colors are not distinguishable, because they see only one - white. Not only sight is poorly developed in these animals, but also the sense of smell.

A well-known fact is the preference for cows of loneliness, but young people without communication can not live and lose their appetite, irritability appears. If you want to increase milk yield, it is necessary not only to feed the animal properly, but also to ensure its calmness, to keep in a dry and warm litter under appropriate conditions.

How can I determine the age

There are situations when you really need to know at what age the domestic cow is. There are many different ways for this, but the most reliable is the evaluation of teeth. In small calves, you can determine the age by the way the sequence of replacement of the milk teeth with permanent ones has passed. But such a definition will not be very accurate. Growth, change and erasure of teeth largely depends on what type of feeding, early maturity and other individual characteristics were chosen. It is for this reason, in order to roughly determine the age of the cow, take the average.

The most important role in determining the age of a cow on teeth is played by incisors, which are called hooks, internal averages and margins, or external averages. How to correctly determine how many years a cow lives?

Hooks, which by the age of two have grown, start to erase immediately from this time. By the age of four, the teeth completely change, and the erasure of all permanent incisors begins, without taking into account the margins. By the age of five, the upper edge begins to erode already on the edges. This sign can accurately suggest that the cow is about five years old. By the same time, there may appear gaps between the incisors. By six years on the hooks and internal averages, the erasure will be greatly aggravated. At seven years, the enamel is completely erased, which is on the tongue surface of the hooks, and by eight years the rubbing surface of the hooks acquires a quadrangular shape. In nine years the picture is the same as in the eight. By the age of ten, the enamel of that part, which is called lingual, is completely erased, and all the incisors become shorter and thinner. In 11-12 years the incisors will become rare. After this age, it is almost impossible to determine the exact age of a cow.

How many live cows?

Of course, many are interested in what is the life expectancy of a cow? Cattle breeders, who have a lot of experience, think that cows live about 20-25 years. And it's unclear whether it's a lot or not. Horse life time is about 30 years, dogs - 15, pigs - 20. Long-geese are considered geese, but only if they are followed by proper care. The length of their lives in this case is about 40 years. But there are also record holders among the animals - donkeys. They can live up to 50 years. But these figures are not accurate. After all, among the cows, too, there are long-livers - for example, a cow that lived 49 years.

But no one can know for sure how much the cow lives. Maybe somewhere in the countryside, which is cut off from civilization, an old woman lives and milk a cow that has served her for more than a quarter of a century. In what factors influence the life expectancy of a cow, it is necessary to understand it for a long time.

How long do cows keep dairy

When it comes to cows of dairy breeds, it must be said that they become physically mature at the age of one and a half years. From this time, they can be fertilized, and after calving begins lactation. Cows are kept for this purpose. Depending on what type of farm, the life expectancy of the cow will be no more than four lactations. Accordingly, on farms, cows live no more than six years. Then they are transferred to fattening farms or stations, so that they go to slaughter.

How many cows are kept in private households

How long does the cow live with the owner who keeps it for milk? It all depends only on the hosts. The average duration is about eight years. But there are people who are sorry to sell a loyal friend and assistant, and they keep her until old age.

There are people who are very attached to their burrs and do not want to give them to slaughter. And they do not look at the fact that the cow is already very old, does not give offspring, and practically does not have milk. And it does not matter what to keep it on - only to yourself at a loss.

We can say that the average life span of cows in our country is not more than eight years. But it is necessary to take into account that in natural conditions the cow would have lived about 20 years.