Some Calf Rearing Practices in Horasan District, Erzurum Province: A Survey Study
Abstract
This study was conducted to determine the calf rearing practices of dairy cattle enterprises in the Horasan district of Erzurum province. To achieve this, data were collected through face-to-face interviews with the owners of 340 farms. The results revealed that 82.4% of farm owners in the district were aware of the importance of colostrum. In addition, 59.1% of farm owners reported feeding colostrum with a bottle, 38.8% allowed calves to suckle their dams, and only 2.1% used bucket feeding. While 72.9% of farm owners reported feeding colostrum within the first 60 minutes, only 8.3% reported feeding colostrum within the first 30 minutes. It was found that in 58.2% of the farms the calves fed with milk for more than 4 months. Winter was determined as the most preferred calving season among cattle farms in the district (80.5%), followed by spring (16.5%). Age at first access to solid feed in calves was between 30-40 days of age in the majority of farms (63.5%). It was also found that in 30.9% of the farms, the calves were separated from their dams at one week of age, in 17.9% at one day of age, and in 16.5% at two days of age. Only 12% of the farms have a separate calving pen. Furthermore, a small proportion of the (36.5%) farms in the district housed calves in calf pens separate from other animals. A minority (34.4%) of farm owners in the district reported receiving information support related to calf rearing. Regional directorates of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, was the first information source (50.4%) of farmers, while 40.2% received support from private veterinarians. As a result of the study, several inadequate or improper practices related to calf rearing were identified in the cattle farms located in the Horasan district Erzurum province, highlighting the need for improved management and targeted training interventions.
Keywords
Calf rearing , Cattle farms , Colostrum feeding , Horasan district
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