Dairy management is the management of animals for milk and its products for human consumption. The main aim of dairy management is to deal with processes and systems that increase yield and improve the quality of milk. 

Cattles are to be well looked after. Quantity and quality of cattle feed should be maintained. Cleanliness and hygiene of cattle, handlers, milk and milk products should be maintained. Cleanliness and hygiene should be maintained during storage and transport of milk and mil products. The process should be mechanised to avoid direct contact with handlers. The shed must be clean, spacious with adequate facilities for feeding, watering, and light. Identification of health problems, diseases, and rectification by veterinary doctors is mandatory. Cows and buffaloes are the main dairy animals reared for obtaining milk.

Selection of Breed:

The milk yield of dairy animals depends on the breed of the animal. The animals should be high yielding, disease-resistant and adjusting to the climatic conditions of the place where they are reared.

Animal Shelter (shed):

Animals should be protected from too much heat, rain, and cold. Hence proper shelter should be provided to them. The shelter should have a roof, proper sanitation, and ventilation.  The floor should be cemented and should have a slight slope so that the drainage of urine takes place and cleaning of dung is efficient. Different types of animals should be kept separately. Too many animals should never be kept in a small space.

Animal Feed:

The cattle feed consists of two components a) roughage and b) concentrates. The main feed of cows and buffaloes are grass but this does not provide them with all the nourishment. The roughage (Silage) is fibrous food containing a large amount of fibres such as hay fodder, leguminous plants-soybeans, peas and cereals like maize, jowar, etc. and concentrates are grains, oil cakes and seeds, mineral salts and vitamins, cereal like bajra, gram, rice polish, etc. Roughage has less nutritive value while concentrates are rich in nutrients. An average Indian cow eats about 15-20 kg of green fodder and 4 to 5 kg dry grass, which is mixed with a sufficient amount of grain. A cow drinks about 32 litres of water. The diet of animals should be balanced and its vary with age, state, health, breed type, etc.

Water and its Supply:

To keep these animals healthy they should be given clean water to drink and in sufficient quantities. For example, on average, a cow consumes about 27-36L of water. The drinking water supply should be permanent. If the continuous drinking water supply is not available, dairy cows and buffaloes should be provided with water at least 3 times in summer and 2 times in winter. We must bathe the cattle with clean water. There should be enough water to clean the sheds and animals.

Animal Grooming:

The animals should be cleaned, washed and brushed regularly to avoid skin infections.

Diseases of Animals:

• Viral diseases: Pox in cattle, goats, and sheep; dermatitis in goats and sheep; foot and mouth disease in cattle, blue tongue
• Bacterial diseases: Tuberculosis in cattle; diphtheria in calf;  footrot in sheep. mastitis. Anthrax, Hemorrhagic septicemia (due to infection (Pasturella multocida), Black quarter (due to infection of Clostridium chanroei), etc.
• Protozoan Disease: Trypanosomiasis
• Fungal Disease: Ringworm
• Other Diseases in Animals: Anthrax, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, mastitis, rinderpest (cattle plague), coccidiosis,
• External Parasites: lice, fleas, ticks, and mites. A buffalo leech (Hirudinaria granulosa) sucks blood of buffalo and causes anemia.
• Internal Parasites: worms (Ascaris rituloram) affects the stomach and intestine of cows and buffaloes and flukes (Fasciola gigantica and F.hepatica) damage the liver.

Most of these diseases can be prevented by proper sanitation, a controlled diet, proper housing and also by vaccinating the animals against these diseases at the proper time and age. The diseases can be cured by using proper antibiotics.  External parasites can be controlled by applying dilute solutions of insecticides like lindane. A veterinary doctor should check farm animals regularly and the record of each animal should be maintained.

Animal Breeding:

Breeding means to reproduce. In the case of animals, breeding is done to obtain animals with desired characters. The two individuals of desirable characters can be selected as parents. These are then crossed to obtain new breeds of animals. 

Artificial insemination is an important and effective method of breeding. The process involves injecting the semen obtained from desired bull belonging to high milk yielding breed into the reproductive tract of the female during heat period. It generally gives important breeds and is widely used to improve the qualities of cow, poultry, horse and goat etc

In India, improved breeds of dairy cows have been developed at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, Haryana. Some examples are: Karan Swiss (Crossbreed of brown Swiss and Sahiwal), Karan Fries (Crossbreed of Tharparkar and Holstein-Friesian), Frieswal (Crossbreed of,  Holstein-Friesian and Sahiwal)

Breeds in Dairy Management

Breeds of Cows:

Milch and Dairy Breeds:

• They are high milk yielding varieties. Bullocks of this variety are not useful as the work animal.
• Examples: Gir, Sindhi, Sahiwal, Gir, Deoni. Sahiwal is a superior breed in all breeds.

Draught Animals:

• The males of these categories are strong and sturdy. They are used for transport, pulling carts and ploughing in farms. The females of this variety give a little amount of milk.\Examples: Malir, Nageri, and Hallikar

Dual Purpose Breed:

• These breeds serve the purpose of above two breeds. The cow gives a moderate amount of milk and the bullocks are used for drought purpose.
• Examples: Tharparker, Kankrej, and Dang

Exotic Breeds:

• These breeds are not native to India. They are Jersey, Brown Swiss, Holstein.

Breeds of Buffaloes:

• Murrah gives 1800-2500 litres of milk every year. Mehsana gives 1200-2500 litres milk per year. Surti gives 1600-1800 litres of milk every year.
• Other well-known breeds of Indian buffaloes are Nagpuri, Bhadawari, Nili, Ravi.

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Farm management is the controlled and scientific handling of farm animals in their rearing, grooming, caring, feeding and breeding to give a much-needed boost to food production. Dairy management is the management of animals for milk and its products for human consumption. The main aim of dairy management is to deal with processes and systems that increase yield and improve the quality of milk.  Bullocks are used for ploughing, harrowing, threshing, transport and drawing water from well. They provide hides, horns and hooves, and other byproducts. Their dungs are used in Gober gas (Biogas) plants for biogas generation and manure.

India is the world’s largest producer of milk. The majority of the milk consumed is also in liquid form in India. In India cattle like cow and buffalo primarily provide milk which is a perfect diet and important source of nutrients and proteins. Production of processed milk products is very less compared to developed countries. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is the main agency behind the cooperative movement in India. India is now seeking joint ventures and financial participation from the private sector including foreign investment for production of milk, milk products and dairy business in India.

Lactation Period is the period of milk production between the birth of a young one and the next pregnancy and it usually lasts about 300 days.

Breeds of Cattle:

A breed is a group of one species of animals, which have the same descent and are similar in body shape, size, and structure. On the basis of utility, they are classified into three types.

• Milch Breeds: They give higher milk production. e.g. Gir, Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Deoni.
• Draught Breeds: They have a higher capacity for work. e.g. Amruthmahal, Malvi, Nageri, Hallikar, Siri, Khillari, and Kangayam.
• General Utility Breeds: They give more milk and do have a higher capacity for work. e.g. Hariana, Ongole, Kankrej, Tharparkar

India possesses 27 good breeds of cattle and seven breeds of buffaloes. They differ from each other on the basis of body colours, horns and foreheads. They are the well-known world over for their quality of hardiness, endurance and resistance to tropical diseases.

Holstein-Friesian is an American breed which is the largest producer of milk per lactation. It has less percentage of fat. Brown Swiss breed is raised in Switzerland it has a high content of minerals and lactose and its milk is used for making cheese. Jersey is a breed which is low milk producing breed but it has more fat content. Red Dane breed from a cold region of Europe is more milk-producing breed.

Cows

Indian breeds:

Gir, Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Thararkar, Kankrej, etc. are some high yielding varieties of Indian cattle.

Exotic Breeds:

Holstein Friesian, Jersey, Swiss, etc. are some of the high yielding varieties that have been imported from abroad and reared widely in India.

Improved breeds:

Some improved breeds have been developed by making a cross between two desired breeds. A cross between Sahiwal and Friesian varieties has been named as Friewal, Karan Swiss is another improved breed for milk production in large quantities.

Other Indian Breeds of Cow and Their Distributions:

• Mewati (Rajasthan)
• Hallikar (South India)
• Kangayam (Tamilnadu)
• Murrah (Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh)

Buffaloes:

Buffaloes are believed to have been domesticated around 5000 years ago in the Indus Valley. Some of the well-known dairy breeds of buffalo found in India and Pakistan are Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Kundi, Surti, Jaffarabadi, Bhadawari, Mehsana, Godawari and Pandharpuri. Despite potential advantages, little attention has been paid to buffalo improvement programs. 

Comparison Between Buffalo’s Milk and Cow’s Milk:

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