Cow life expectancy: factors and methods for determining age

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Everyone knows who can be called the main breadwinner of all people - a cow. Since childhood, we have known 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. It is unlikely that any of us think about the question of how milk appears or how long a cow lives.

Features of cow behavior

Cows have been constantly present in human life for a very long time, and people have been able to accumulate a large amount of information about these animals. For example, how they eat, eat, drink, and what is the life expectancy of a cow. There are also very interesting facts, such as the indifferent attitude of cows to music. They can recognize it even by the rhythm. Cows do not distinguish colors, because they see only one - white. Not only vision is poorly developed in these animals, but also the sense of smell.

The fact that cows prefer loneliness has also become known,but at the same time, young animals cannot live without communication and lose their appetite, irritability appears. If you want to increase milk yield, you must not only feed the animal properly, but also provide him with peace, keep him in appropriate conditions on a dry and warm litter.

How can you tell your age

There are situations when you need to know exactly what age a domestic cow is. There are many different ways to do this, but the most reliable is the evaluation of the teeth. In small calves, age can be determined by how the sequence of replacing milk teeth with permanent teeth went. But this kind of definition will not be very accurate. Growth, change and erasure of teeth largely depend on the type of feeding chosen, precocity and other individual characteristics. It is for this reason that, in order to roughly determine the age of a cow, they take averages.

The most important role in determining the age of a cow by teeth is played by incisors, which are called hooks, inner middle and edges, or outer middle. How to correctly determine how many years a cow lives?

Hooks that have grown by the age of two begin to wear off immediately from this time. By the age of four, the teeth are completely changed, and the erasure of all permanent incisors begins, not taking into account the edges. By the age of five, the upper edge begins to wear off already on the edges. This sign can accurately tell that the cow is about five years old. By this time, gaps between the incisors may also appear. By the age of sixon the toes and inner middles, the abrasion will be significantly aggravated. At the age of seven, the enamel, which is located on the lingual surface of the hooks, is completely erased, and by the age of eight, the rubbing surface of the hooks acquires a quadrangular shape. At nine years old, the picture is the same as at eight. By the age of ten, the enamel of the part called the lingual is completely erased, and all incisors become shorter and thinner. At 11-12 years old, the incisors will become rare. After this age, it is almost impossible to determine the exact age of the cow.

How long do cows live?

Of course, many people are interested in what is the life expectancy of a cow? Livestock breeders who have quite a lot of experience think that cows live for about 20-25 years. And it is not clear whether this is a lot or a little. The life time of a horse is about 30 years, dogs - 15, pigs - 20. Geese are considered long-livers, but only if they are properly cared for. Their life expectancy in this case is about 40 years. But there are also champions among animals - donkeys. They can live up to 50 years. But these numbers are not exact. After all, there are also long-lived cows - for example, a cow that lived for 49 years.

But no one can know exactly how long a cow lives. Maybe somewhere in a village that is cut off from civilization, some old woman lives and milks a cow that has served her for more than a quarter of a century. It is necessary to understand for a long time what factors influence the life expectancy of a cow.

How long dairy cows are kept

Whenwe are talking about dairy cows, 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 lactation begins after calving. For this purpose they keep cows. Depending on the type of farm, a cow's life expectancy will be no more than four lactations. Accordingly, cows live on farms for no more than six years. Then they are transferred to fattening farms or stations, so that from there they go to slaughter.

How many cows are kept on private farms

How long does a cow live with an owner who keeps her for milk? It all depends on the owners. The average duration is about eight years. But there are people who feel sorry for selling a true friend and assistant, and they keep her until old age.

There are people who are very attached to their cows and do not want to give them up for slaughter. And they do not look at the fact that the cow is already very old, does not give offspring, and has practically no milk. And it doesn't matter what to keep her on - only at a loss.

It can be said that the average life expectancy of cows in our country is no more than eight years. But keep in mind that under natural conditions, a cow would live approximately 20 years.