question on milking cows?

Question

I know that a cow has to have a calf first in order to be milked. My question is, what happens to the calf once the cow is used for milking? What nourishes the calf? Does it still nurse from the mother, along with humans milking the cow, or what?\
Thanks!

re wellaem: after how long is the calf weaned and can start eating grains? why is the mother cow still producing milk if the calf is weaned?

Answer 1

In the modern dairy industry, the calf is fed its mothers milk for 3-5 days. After that the hormone and antibiotic levels in the mother's milk are low enough for the milk to be sold as food product. Until that time the milk is not sold.

After the 3-5 days, the calf is fed milk replacer. It is like formula for cows. It is designed for the nutritional requirements of a cow. The calf is fed replacer for 1-2 months. In that time it is allowed to try grain and hay. It slowly gets to where it can digest the solid food and is then taken off of the replacer.

In the modern dairy the calf never nurses off of the mother. The cow is milked and the milk is put in bottles. These are much like a baby's bottle with a nipple. During the weening process, the bottle is replaced by a bucket so that the calf learns to drink water out of a bucket or tub.

Answer 2

for the first few weeks, the mother feeds the calf. When the calf is weaned, and put on grain and hay, the mother still produces milk, and that is when the farmer takes over

Answer 3

The calf feeds until it is old enough to eat food, however, the cow is milked, fooling the cow's body into thinking the calf still requires feeding. In theory, women can still breast feed even after thier own child has stopped (I have a friend who breast fed her daughter til she was four)

Answer 4

All mammals (usually the female) produce milk to feed their young. That's basically the definition of a mammal. Part of the embryonic development and birth process includes production of hormones to stimulate the mammary glands into production. The sucking action of the infant also stimulates production. Once production starts, the sucking action is enough to maintain production, and hormones are no longer needed. The farmer is just fooling the cow's body into thinking it is still nursing by providing a machine (or hands, in the old days) to maintain the sucking action.

A wetnurse does the same thing. After nursing her own child, she can nurse other children. Sometimes they can even skip the part of having their own child first and just stimulate milk production by trying to nurse.

Answer 5

If the calf is male, it is sold as veal as soon as possible. If it is female it is fed, weaned, fed grasses until it is old enough to breed.