ANFS102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Bovine Somatotropin, Growth Hormone, Mammary Gland
20 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
The us dairy industry: ~9,000,000 dairy cows in the us. 50% of cows on farms with 500 cows or less. 50% of cows on farms with more than 500 cows. In the face of decreasing profit margins, dairies have expanded in size to remain economically viable. Even the bigger ones might be owned by multiple people in the family. The average us dairy cow: produces 22,000 pounds (2,560 gallons) of milk per year, eats 40,000 pounds of feed per year. They eat hay and other things that humans do not eat. >50% of feed is grown on the farm. A lot of what they eat is wet, and it would be too expensive to ship wet foods, so they just grow them on the farms: produces 55,000 pounds of manure per year. Most is stored until application on crop land. Dairy industry: milk collected on farm, milk sold to cooperatives, cooperatives sell milk to dairy producers.
