Pregnant cow "output"

[bivol]

hi!

i know, asking something like “how much work can a cow do?” is like asking how much work can a human do.

also, i’ve never understood it: cow ix “X” breed is weaker and smaller than ox of “X” breed, no trouble there. but, a is a cow (breed X) weighing 2000 pounds equally strong to and ox (breed y) also weighing 2000 pounds?

but, if i’d give some data: say, i have two healthy, adult, double purpose cows weighing 600 kg ,or 1700 pounds, trained and conditioned to work, and fed sufficiently (both are pregnant, say 2-3 months).

so, having two such cows, question is:

1. how many hours of hard work can they do (plowing)?
2. how many hours of light work can they do (harrowing)?
3. heavy carting-how many hours?

do they need rests, besides daily for chewing cud, a few days “off” in a week?

i’ve seen paintings of two cows hauling stones on wagon from a quarry, so they obviously had a significant output.

if anyone knows web sites where i could find these parameters, please let me know.

[fabian]

the main reason for working with cows only the half day was not that they couldn’t do the work they should be able to do because of their weight and training but because of avoiding suffering their milk production. (hope my English is understandable 😉 )
You can not have all: a the whole day working cow, getting every year a healthy calf AND production of a lot of milk.

Wolfgang

[Nat(wasIxy)]

I don’t think you can do sums on it – you just have to judge it as you go along: you know the animal best – is she looking tired? is she geting thin? etc. Adjust workload accordingly.

Two human women can be the same race, height, weight, build etc. but one could work right through her pregnancy and the other one be bedridden the whole time – it’s purely down to the individual I reckon!

[bivol]

good points, thank you!

figured cows would work only half a day and not lack much in terms of milking, but i could, for example, push a milking cow more one day (if she can take it), and compensate the milk production for the day by supplementing with goat milk…

i guess it summs up to looking how an individual animal takes it. though having a mongrel cow or heritage breed is better than having a modern breed purebred one.

[bivol]

good points!

figured cows would work only half a day and not lack much in terms of milking, but i could, for example, push a milking cow more one day (if she can take it), and compensate the milk production for the day by supplementing with goat milk…

i posted this thread partly because i was skeptic about the working cow’s performance, although seeing pictures of farmers plowing with two cows…. i forgot how important physical conditioning is, especially with cows.:p

i guess it sums up to looking how an individual animal takes it. though having a mongrel cow or heritage breed is better than having a modern breed purebred one.

thank you for your help! this subject, it was really bugging me.
sometimes we need an impulse from others, no matter how hard we think about something, it’s the others that point to the solution.

[Author]

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