All about dairy cow & milk production - the dairy cattle farming industry explained

Q&A:

Q1: Are all cows female?

Answer: No. Baby milk cows are called calves. There are male calves and female calves. Male calves can either be used later as a breeding bull, or sold and used for veal or beef.

Q2: How long are cows pregnant? How long is a cow pregnant?

Answer: About 9 months.

Q3: What are the types of dairy cows? What are the dairy cattle breeds?

Answer: There are 7 major dairy cow breeds in the United States. These are: Holstein, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Ayrshire, Jersey, Red and White, and Milking Shorthorn.

Q4: How long does a cow live? How long do cows live?

Answer: Cows can live to 20 years. However, those raised for dairy rarely live that long, as the average cow is removed from the dairy herd around age 4 and marketed for beef.

Q5: How much milk does a cow produces per day? per year?

Answer: On average, a dairy cow produces 9164.4 kg (20,204 lbs) of milk per year, or more than 7 gallons of milk per day. The Holstein is the main breed of dairy cattle, which has the world's highest milk productivity. In 2016, the average milk production for a Holstein dairy cow is 10,512 kg of milk.

Q6: How long does a cow produce milk?

Answer: About 305 days or 10 months long.

Dairy cattle, or milk cows do not produce milk every day throughout their lives. Like humans, milk cows only produce milk to feed their babies (calves). A dairy cow doesn't produce milk until she has a calf. She is about two years old when she has her first calf. 

Milk Production

Milk production levels peak at around 40 to 60 days after calving. Cows give milk for about 10 months (or about 305 days), with the production declines steadily during the 10 months. Cows stop milk production during a 2-month "dry" period before giving birth and entering another 10-month milk cycle.

Life of A Milk Cow

Female cows are artificially inseminated shortly after their first birthdays. After giving birth, they lactate for 10 months and are then inseminated again, continuing the cycle. 

Cows have a natural lifespan of about 20 years and can produce milk for eight or nine years. However, the stress caused by the conditions on factory farms leads to disease, lameness, and reproductive problems that render cows worthless to the dairy industry by the time that they’re 4 or 5 years old, at which time they are sent to be slaughtered.

Disease of Milk Cows - Mastitis

Painful inflammation of the mammary glands, or mastitis, is common among cows raised for their milk, and it is one of dairy farms’ most frequently cited reasons for sending cows to slaughter. Studies have shown that providing cows with cleaner housing, more space, and better diets, bedding, and care lowers their incidence of mastitis.

Where Do Baby Calves Go

While female calves are slaughtered or kept alive to produce milk, male calves are often taken away from their mothers to be raised for veal for 3 to 18 weeks. They are usually fed a milk substitute that is designed to make them gain weight every day, and their diet is purposely low in iron so that their flesh stays pale as a result of anemia.

Reference:

[1]"Life of the Dairy Cow", Sites.ext.vt.edu, 2017. [Online]. Available: http://www.sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm/dairy/dairy_lifecycle.html#. [Accessed: 03- Aug- 2017].

[2]"FAQ - Dairy Cattle", Milk.org, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.milk.org/corporate/view.aspx?content=Faq/DairyCattle. [Accessed: 03- Aug- 2017].

[3]"Cow's Milk: A Cruel and Unhealthy Product", PETA, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/cows-milk-cruel-unhealthy-product/. [Accessed: 03- Aug- 2017].

[4]"Inside the Milk Machine: How Modern Dairy Works - Modern Farmer", Modern Farmer, 2017. [Online]. Available: http://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/real-talk-milk/. [Accessed: 03- Aug- 2017].
[5] "Dairy cattle", Wikipedia. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_cattle/. [Accessed: 03- Aug- 2017].