Why keep dairy cows?
The main goal of any dairy herd is to produce milk as conveniently and economically as possible. Since the bovine gestation period is nine months long and cows require a postpartum recovery period of several months before initiating another pregnancy, it is convenient to plan around a yearly calving interval. Ideally, cows would lactate for about ten months followed by a two month dry period, as illustrated in the accompanying figure. They should be remated successfully during the first third of lactation, progress through another gestation and calve again to initiate another lactation. However, even with reasonable management, a substantial number of animals fail to conceive as anticipated so calving intervals exceed twelve months. Failure to achieve a twelve-month calving interval is not disastrous since almost all improved dairy cows produce reasonable quantities of milk for longer than ten months. Thus, although daily yields are considerably below peak amounts, they still return so
Related Questions
- Is there any brand of Eggs and Dairy Milk I can buy where the chickens and cows aren kept in horrid conditions and aren slaughtered once their production declines?
- How often do dairy cows need to be impregnated to keep producing milk? And what happens to the calves?
- What Beef Products Come From Cull Cows?
