28 Oct 2015
“Cow Longevity” Conference
From 21-22 October, 2015 “Center for Agribusiness and Rural development” Foundation, together with DeLaval Company, hosted the international conference on “Cow Longevity” in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia. More than 90 participants from Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Nagorno Karabakh, Israel and Sweden took part in the conference. All the participants were greatly interested in dairy longevity and the practical issues how to ensure it. It is already the third time that DeLaval has initiated such an event (the first conference was held in Saint Petersburg, the second one in Tumen).
The conference was opened by Mr. Tatul Stepanyan, the Head of the Department of Veterinary and Livestock Agriculture, RA Ministry of Agriculture; Mr. Nikolay Timoshenko, the President of DeLaval RUCAR Company, as well as by Mr. Gagik Sardaryan, the Director of CARD Foundation and CARD Agroservice CJSC.
The conference aimed at emphasizing once again all the advantages that cow longevity provides. The concept of “Cow longevity” refers to the long-term and comfortable life of cows in the herd. In order to extend the life cycle of cows, and to improve the life quality, it is necessary to create comfortable conditions in the barn, reduce the unnecessary stress, provide them with feed for 24 hours, and eliminate diseases, such as: animal lameness, reproduction problems, hoof diseases and so on. Providing cows with a happy and comfortable life, it is possible to raise the milk production level.
During the conference the cow longevity maintenance issues were discussed within the context of Armenia’s natural climatic characteristics. Among the discussed issues were: the increase of cow comfort, the necessity of heat stress control, the effective management of animals in different phases of the production circle, the practical issues of reproduction, as well as the dairy cattle hoof health.
During their presentations the foreign experts put the main emphasis on the animal feeding, animal milking and cow comfort. “If you fix your feeding, your silage quality, your TMR, the way you handle cows, understanding the cow signals, and doing all these things correctly, step by step approach, then I see a great future”,- said Lior Yaron, one of the speakers of the conference.