How to know and check a pregnant cow

Read carefully to know how to tell if a cow or heifer is pregnant.
    Actually, determining pregnancy in cattle is very very important especially for breeders and it has many benefits. And determining pregnancy in cattle is highly recommended for the cattle farmer for maximizing cattle breeding efficiency. Pregnancy diagnosis by rectal palpation has been performed for decades in cattle. But this system involves an experienced person introducing his hand and arm into the rectum of the heifer or cow and feeling the fetus physically. A skillful palpator can diagnose pregnancy as early as around 40 days of gestation and later. Due to the variation in size of individual fetuses can make it pretty difficult as the fetus gets larger (but it is usually possible to determine the gestation length).
Determining Pregnancy in Cattle
Generally a cow or heifer is assumed to be pregnant if it’s estrus signs are not observed around 3 weeks after artificial insemination or service through a bull. Although not all the cows or heifers will be pregnant even if estrus detection is good. On the other hand, during pregnancy some pregnant cows or heifers (around 7 percent) can show some signs of estrus. Artificial insemination of these animals may result in embryonic or foetal death. However, currently the most reliable methods of determining pregnancy in cattle are ; hormone measurements, rectal palpation, early pregnancy-associated protein and ultrasound examination. Here we are describing more about the easiest ways of determining pregnancy in cattle.
Rectal Palpation
Rectal palpation is the most easiest and old method for determining pregnancy in cattle. The main advantages of this method is immediate result which ensures early treatment of non-pregnant cows or heifers. Although accuracy in this method depends on the experience of the practitioner and the accuracy rate can reach around 95 percent. Rectal palpation method is generally done between 35 and 65 days after artificial insemination. You can call an expert in your area for determining pregnancy in cattle through this method.
how to determine pregnancy in cow or heifer,
Early Pregnancy-associated Protein
The most recent available test for determining pregnancy in cattle is called ECF (early conception factor), or pregnancy-associated glycoprotein in blood samples. This also an easy way, and the method can detect the pregnancy-associated glycoprotein within 2 days (or 48 hours) of conception. By the way, this test should be treated solely as an conception indication because of the high incidence of embryonic mortality. And pregnancy can be confirmed later by rectal or ultrasound examination.
Ultrasound Examination
This is also a very effective way for determining pregnancy in cattle. Real time ultrasound is a relatively simple and reliable system for determining pregnancy in cattle as early as day 26. And generally accuracy in this method is very high (sometimes with over 99 percent).
Behaviour & Physical Changes
You can also detect pregnancy of your cows or heifers by yourself. You can observe the behavior of you cows and heifers, and it is one of the best non-invasive means of determining pregnancy in cattle. On an average, the estrous cycle in cattle occurs every 21 days. If a heifer or cow has absorbed or aborted the embryo, she will soon come into estrus and continue regular cycling until she conceives again.
The bulls generally don’t show interest to any cows that maintain pregnancy. They generally show interest if a cow or heifer that comes into heat. So, observing the behavior of your bulls (if there are any) is also a great way for determining pregnancy in cattle.
Paying attention to the physical changes of your heifers and cows is also a way for determining pregnancy in cattle. Common physical changes in a pregnant cow or heifer includes changes to size, changes to body shape, and abdomen and udder changes. The udder begins to fill out more and reach maturity in heifers (virgin heifers that are not yet conceived will have and under-developed udder that is only resembled by the presence of four small teats tucked up under their belly between their hind legs).
These are the common ways of determining pregnancy in cattle. If you are a beginner, then please contact an experienced person for learning more. Comment

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How to milk a cow with hand

       

 Using hand to milk a cow  is not as easy as it may look. The milking process requires lots of work and time to learn properly. If you don’t know how to milk a cow by hand, then the milking process is going to be more difficult to you. If you raise at least a few cows for family use, then you must have to know about milking a cow by hand. Actually, you will need to milk your cow everyday to fully reap the benefits of a dairy cow . Because the cows may stop producing milk or develop problems with their teats, if they are not milked on a regular basis. Learning more about how to milk a cow by hand and milking your cow/cows on a regular schedule can prevent such problems from occurring.
How to Milk a Cow by Hand
Fist of all secure the cow’s head before you begin milking, so that the cow can’t wander off. Then clean her udder and after that sit on a sturdy stool and lubricate each teats before you begin milking. Then pull downward from the base of the teat, and squeeze the milk out into a bucket. However, here we are describing more about the process of milking a cow by hand.
Securing the Cow
First of all you will need to secure the cow. To do so, you can tie the cow to a stable fixture. You should tie the cow in a low-stress and quiet environment. You should approach the cow slowly, because your cow can get afraid or be nervous if you move fast. And the milking process will be more difficult and unpleasant for both of you and your cow if the cow is anxious or afraid.
If you have a stanchion in your farm, then you can effectively secure your cow by using that.
Cleaning the Udder and Teats
You need to clean the udder and teats of your cow with soapy water or iodine before start milking. You need to wash the teats for preventing soil, and also any bacteria that it may contain, from contaminating the milk. If possible, try using slightly warm water. Because washing with slightly warm water may help coax or bring down the milk.
Another important thing is ‘don’t milk your cow if her teats are still wet’. Because the soap and water may drip down into the milk bucket and contaminate the milk. You can dry the teats by using a clean and soft cotton cloth.

Follow the step by step guide below for milking a cow by hand.
Wash Your Hands
Your hands can carry bacteria, and such bacteria can be harmful if transmitted to the cow. So, you need to wash your hands by soap or handwash (you can also use a pair of latex gloves for milking). After washing your hands, apply a lubricant to your hands for minimizing friction. You can use petroleum jelly or any edible oil as a lubricator. There are some people who prefer to use udder cream for lubricating.
Strip the Teats
Strip each teat for several times. Actually stripping is the process of pulling down a cow’s teat in order to pass any dirt, bacteria or other derbis from the milk ducts. And don’t catch the milk from stripping in the milk bucket.
Use a Bucket
Place a bucket underneath the udder of your cow (this bucket will catch the milk that you squeeze from the udder). Holding the bucket between your legs will be better. It requires practice, time and patience, but it will be easy and comfortable for you after sometime. You can also tick your cow by giving her grain or hay during milking. Doing so will ensure the cow stands still in most cases.
Sit Comfortably
You should seat yourself in a position that will allow you to move away quickly if the cow becomes uncooperative. It’s good to sit or squat on the right side of the cow. Your body should be very close to the cow (especially underneath the cow), so that there is as little distance as possible between the bucket and udder.
Begin Milking
Wrap your one hand around 2 of the 4 teats. You can choose front two teats first, and then the back pair. Or you can also try diagonal teats, for example front left and rear right. Then begin milking by gently clamping each teat between your extend thumb and first finger, so that the teat fills your palm as you squeeze down. For increasing milk yield, you may need to gently bump against the udder. Doing so will help to stimulate the udder to let down milk as a calf would.
As you press down on the teat, maintain your grip on the base of the teat so that the milk doesn’t flow back up into the udder. Be gentle yet firm while milking your cow by hand.
You should milk your cow until the quarter that you are milking looks deflated. Generally an emptied quarter of the udder will look saggy and wrinkled, and feel much softer and more malleable. While a full udder will appear tight and be firm to the touch. Actually this requires practice, and an experienced farmer can fell the udder to know exactly when all the milk has come down. Repeat the motion with your other hand on the adjacent quarter after you have milked 1 quarter.
Then move on to milk the other 2 teats. You can change your position and move to other side of the cow if you began milking the two teats on a side. But changing side is not necessary if you use the diagonal milking method.
Hope you have already learned a lot about how to milk a cow by hand. Milking a cow properly actually requires lots of time and practice. The more you milk your cows the better you will be able to milk them.

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Terms Used in poultry

    Here are the terms used in Poultry

Cock                      — male fowl above one year of age.

Cockerel               — male fowl below one year of age

Hen                       — female fowl above one year of age.

Pullet                    — female fowl below one year of age.

Chick                     — A young fowl (0-6 weeks old).

Capon                     — A castrated male fowl.

Caponization.        — Process of castration in fowl.

Treading                — Act of mating in fowl.

Grower                    — fowl between 7–19 weeks of age.

Layer                       — female fowl over 20 weeks of age that can lay eggs.

Broiler                      — fowl reared for meat

Clutch                      — A group of young chicks.

Flock                       — A group of fowls.

Chicken                   — meat of fowl.

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Breads of domestic fowl

The various species of fowls may have had a common ancestor, the primitive fowl called GALLUS. The various breads of fowls can be classified into three main groups
  1. Egg producers which includes: white Leghorn, and brown Leghorn.

  2. Meet producers known as broilers e.g Sussex, Cornish,and Cochin.

  3. Dual purpose ones (i.e both meat and egg producers) e.g., Rhode, Island red, Plymouth Rock, and New Hampshire.

   

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How to check the fertility of an Egg

1.   First Hold the egg above the light. Take your candling equipment in a dark room within close proximity to the incubator. Take an egg from the incubator and hold it above the light. The correct way to do this is allows:
Place the larger end of the egg (where the air sac is) directly against the light. Hold the egg near the top, between your thumb and forefinger. Tilt the egg slightly to one side and rotate until you get the best view.
As you work, you should mark each egg with a number and take notes on your findings. That way, you can compare the results of your first candling with the results of your second candling.
Try to work quickly, but not so fast that you risk dropping the egg. As long as the eggs are returned to the incubator within twenty minutes to half an hour, there is no risk of the candling process affecting their development. A mother hen will frequently leave her eggs for short periods of time while she is incubating them.
Be aware that it will be more difficult to candle brown or speckled eggs as the dark shells do not become as transparent under the light.
Look for signs that the egg is a winner. A winner is an egg with a successfully developing embryo. You can tell if an egg is a winner using the following signs:
There will be a visible network of blood vessels spreading from the center of the egg outwards.
With a weaker candler, you might just be able to make out the clear bottom half of the egg (where the air sac is) and the darker top half of the egg (where the embryo is developing).
With a good candler, you might be able to see the dark outline of the embryo at the center of the network of blood vessels. You are most likely to see the embryo's eyes, which are the darkest spots inside the egg.
If you're lucky, you might see the embryo moving! [3]
Look for signs that the egg is a quitter. A quitter is an embryo which has stopped developing at some point during incubation, for one reason or another. Some quit due to poorly maintained temperatures or humidity, some are contaminated by bacteria, while others simply have bad genes.
The main indication that an egg is a quitter is the development of a blood ring. A blood ring looks like a well-defined red circle, which is visible on the inside of the shell. It forms when the embryo dies and the blood vessels supporting it pull away from the center and rest against the shell. [1]
Other indications that an egg is a quitter include the development of blood spots or blood streaks inside the egg. However, these dark patches can be difficulty to distinguish from a healthy embryo at this early stage.
If you are 100% certain that the egg is a quitter (the appearance of a blood ring is a very definite sign) then you should discard the egg immediately to prevent it from turning bad and exploding inside the incubator.
Look for signs that the egg is a yolker. A yolker is an egg that was never fertilized and has no chance of developing an embryo. You can tell if an egg is a yolker using the following signs:
The egg looks the exact same as it did when you first candled the eggs before putting them in the incubator.
The inside of the egg looks fairly clear, with no visible dark spots, blood vessels or blood rings. [5]
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How to Start Lucrative Poultry Farming in Nigeria

Medium scale poultry farm in Nigeria
A new poultry farm populated with day-old-chi
Poultry Farming in Nigeria is probably one of the most lucrative farming business you can do in Nigeria especially when it is setup and managed properly. The farmers we currently have are not producing enough poultry and will not be enough even in the next ten years! This aspect of livestock farming presents one of the finest opportunity for entrepreneurs to make good money within the shortest period of time possible. This is made possible due to the quick maturity of chickens.
With over 160 Million consumers in the country who buys poultry products on daily basis, the market is always here waiting to be tapped. The demand for eggs is so high that people go about everyday looking for where to buy eggs for supply .
So, how exactly can anyone who wish to start poultry farming in Nigeria be able to go about it and come out very profitable? This article will cover a lot of ground, and it is written based on personal experience and continually updated to make sure the information here is as accurate as possible at all time.
SEE ALSO: How to start small scale poultry farm
This very post will take more critical look at the business and how entrepreneurs who are interested in this business in Nigeria could start easily without wasting much time and resources.
Anyone can engage in poultry farming business, it doesn’t matter your educational or financial background. You can start at any level and grow as big as you want with time. The most important thing is that you are interested in starting somewhere.
This articles will focus on how to start small and grow big which I think will interest anyone with limited financial capacity who wants to start small
without involving much risks .
One of the factors that makes poultry farming business ideal is because chickens grows very fast. Unlike goats that takes 2 to 3 years to mature, a chicken can be ready for the market within 28 weeks from birth. That is why it is considered ideal business for loan takers who may actually invest the loan and within 30 to 40 weeks, they may start paying back through the money realized from sells. That is if everything goes well as planned.
SEE ALSO: Feasibility study on poultry Business in Nigeria
Profit Potential in Poultry Farming Business
1. Chicken Reproduce Fast
Average healthy Layer lays egg almost everyday or at least 4 times in a week. Some Breeds can lay as much as 325 eggs in a year and take 21 days to hatch. This means that technically a Layer is capable of producing another chicken twice in three days.
So, if you have 500 healthy layers of good breeds (such as California white) they are capable of reproducing a whooping 12,000 chicks within 40 days!
2. Chicken Grows Very Fast
Within 21 days, the egg is hatched and within 28 weeks, they are ready for the market. That means a farmer may start making his money in just 34 weeks after successfully setting up his farm and whatever returns he make could be doubled in a year based on this calculation.
3. Chicken Sells at Very Good Price
A fully grown healthy chicken sells between 2,000 to 2,500 naira in Nigeria. Therefore, if you produce 12,000 chickens in your farm, you will be making N24 million by the time they are completely sold.
4. Egg market in Large too – Apart from the chicken, the egg is another money of it’s own. A crate of eggs sells for N500 – N550 for smaller eggs and N600 – N650 for bigger ones. Each crate contains 30 eggs. Therefore, if you have 500 layers that produces 12,000 pullet in a month and decides to sell all, you will be making
N200,000 to N260,000 monthly.
As you can see, the profit in poultry farming in Nigeria is mouth watering and the turn over time is fantastic. The big question now is how to get this business started?
SEE ALSO: PDF eBook on Poultry Business in Nigeria
What Your Poultry Business Plan Should Look Like
Draw out your effective business plan . Poultry business plan is like a road map leading you to where you are going in you business. It will help you know where you are at any point in time. Hence your business plan should include:
1. Decide on Type of Poultry Bird
Here you choose Chickens ( Layers and Broilers).
We choose chicken because that’s what this article focuses on. There are other types of birds that are good for livestock business too, such as
Goose , Duck , Turkey , etc.
2. Write Down your Area of Interest
You can’t just be in all aspect of poultry farming in Nigeria. You have to choose your area of interest where you would like to concentrate your business. This will ensure high level of focus and professionalism. If you can do two area, no problem. Below are some of the major Niches in Poultry Farming in Nigeria or elsewhere.
Layers Breeding which is egg production by
Layers
Broilers breeding which referrers to the chicken meat production by Broilers
Hatchery which has to do with breeding chicken for the purpose of Hatching new chicks
Poultry feed which is producing feeds for other poultry farmers
You may choose to Breed Layers and Broilers at a time or one of them. Hatchery is better done independently just like feed production. So, you choose your area of focus
3. Sort out Location
This has a direct effect to your startup cost. A location in a very remote rural area will cost far less than the one close to the urban area. Remote rural area with good road is the ideal location as you will be free from regulatory agencies and drive down the cost of labor too.
As a person new to Livestock business, you don’t want to invest all your capital into buying lands in urban area which may turn out not being used. Government policy is against setting up poultry farm near residential/urban areas for health implications.
4. Secure you Poultry Farm Starting Capital
With location in mind, you now have clearer idea of the capital required of you. Write down your detailed capital and investment requirements for your poultry farming in Nigeria venture and set out to source for it.
Like every other farming projects, the bigger you plan to start, the more investment required. You need to decide on the level of capital investment you are willing to commit into this business before starting.
SEE ALSO: How to build low cost poultry pen for Local Farmers
(a) Small scale Chicken Rearing (of about 50 birds) kept in cages at the backyard of your resident will take about N70,000 to start.
(b) A medium scale poultry farming that requires land and housing and other materials in 1 – 2 plots of Land takes about N500,000 to N5 Million to start.
(c) Large scale or Intensive poultry farming that requires high level of sophistication and more careful planning and professionalism, using advance Livestock farming techniques takes from
N10 Million.
Setting Up Your Poultry Farming In Nigeria
With your business plan is in place, the next is to proceed to setting up your farm without delay! At this point, it is my believe that you already have the money in your hands. So here are the things you need to acquire and put in place.
1. Buy Poultry Farm land
Like we said earlier, look for land in a remote location but make sure it’s not too far from the city. A place like Ijebu Ode , Remo Area , Imota in
Ikorodu. These places are perfect if you are in Lagos. Other places like towards Oshogbo after Ibadan isn’t too far too from the major city like Ibadan.
You can get Acre of land there for cheap price, cost of lands in most cases is determined by the sellers. But we may suggest price during commenting. So drop your comments below and let’s get the discussion going.
SEE ALSO: How to start a poultry farm on demand
2. Build your Poultry Pen Structure
House is very important for chicken rearing and effective keeping and management. Poultry housing are classified according to the scale and the management system. The most common types of poultry housing used for poultry farming in Nigeria are:
• Deep litter-
• Half litter and half slats –
• Battery –
• Semi-fold –
3. Buy Day Old Chick
Look for good Hatchery where you can get healthy day old chicks to start with. It costs from N140 to N200 sometimes up to N300.
4. Items you Need for Poultry Farm
Feeders, Drinkers, Perches. Nests, Crates, Lighting system, Waste disposal system, Incubator, Heaters or brooders, Egg tray, Cages and coops.
What’s Next…
You need addition resources to make your poultry business a successful one.
Join other poultry farmers who have made our
Poultry Business eBook their companion towards starting their poultry farms and managing it effectively.

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