They take dairy calves away from the mothers and bottle-feed them (or sell them for veal). The milking makes her body think the calf is nursing, a lot, and so she keeps producing milk steadily, usually for about a year. Then she has to have another calf to keep the milk supply going.

If you have a small homestead and don't need a lot of milk from your cow, you can let her keep her calf and still milk her, and that will be enough milk for most homesteaders. But it's not profitable for large dairies.

If you saw the calves with their mothers, those are likely beef calves. They used to remove the calves at a certain age to force weaning, so the mother could back get in shape for her next pregnancy, but trial and error showed that caused more losses than it prevented so most beef calves stay in the pasture with their mother until they're old enough to go to a feedlot.

I am from India and always have between cows and buffaloes. Remember, my description of dairy will be different from Industrial dairy.

So, we used to have 4 to 5 cows. Whenever a cow gives birth, we will always feed the baby first. New born babies get almost half of milk and rest will be used by family. As the calf gets older like 3 months, the milk consumption decreases and he will eat food such as grass and feed.

after some time they grow old enough to completely feed off the grass. this is when family can use all the milk. Cow will keep giving milk up until 2 years on average and they may become pregnant. However, the quantity will keep decreasing overtime and fat percentage will increase.

Cows start the milk process for the first time when they give birth.

Veterinary technician here. Short answer: No they do not. Long answer. When a cow gets a calf she produces milk. The more they milk her the longer she sill produce milk as her body thinks its feeding a calf. The production of milk slowly reduces over time and farms need to calculate this in order to be profitable. Once it is not profitable anymore they stop and wait until she recovers and is ready for another calf.

Like people, cows only lactate when they have babies. The cows are artificially inseminated, typically by locking them in a cage and jabbing them in the cervix with a metal rod while the farmer’s arm is inserted into the cow’s rectum.

When the cow gives birth, the farmer takes away her calf to prevent it from drinking the milk.

Today’s dairy cows produce much more milk, per day, than is physically consumable by calves. Some farms use their own milk to feed calves and the excess is sent to processing for fluid milk, cheese and yogurt, other farms will use milk replacement powder and send all their milk for processing (reasons may be for a more consistent, nutritional product for the calves or due to lack of storage space for fluid milk). Cows only produce milk after having a calf. Cows who are in the 2nd or greater lactation have what is called a dry period which is typically 60 days prior to their due date where they are not milked. A lactation typically lasts 305 days, however, may be longer or shorter depending on health events, timing of breeding, etc. Most calves, in the dairy industry, have milk in their diet for the first 7-9 weeks of age (USA statistic-Penn State Extension) before transitioning to solid feeds to aid in proper rumen development. Hope this helps answer your questions!

Edit to add for credibility: I’ve worked in the dairy industry for 8+ years and have a BSc Animal Science (dairy focused dissertation) and am currently finishing a MSc Ruminant Nutrition.

No they don't. Milk cows have to regularly calve to continue giving milk.

And the thing is, those calves, if they aren't female and can be used for milk cows, will eventually be slaughtered for meat. Which is why many vegans consider cow milk to be as bad as eating cow meat itself.

Howdy all, I just want to throw my hat in the ring here. I milked cows and lived in a dairy barn for 4 years. It’s hard work. And I respect the hell out of all our cows for working hard too. To answer your questions from personal and professional experience.

1. There are many different breeds of cattle, like dogs. Some are better for certain purposes. For cows that produce milk the most common is a Holstein (Typical black and white moo moo).

2. Humans have been milking cows since the very beginning of our agricultural days. Thousands of years. Over this long period of time we’ve bred cattle to produce more and more milk. During the 1900s farmers started to selectively breed cows that could produce more milk. Much more milk than a baby calf could ever hope to drink.

3. Yes we do take away the babies from their mothers, and I’ll address this at a later point. But this is done for a variety of reasons. Most certainly NOT to simply “Get more milk”. Here are some benefits to removing a calf from her mother.

Not all cows are good mothers. I’ve seen some immediately forget their babies and move straight to a food bin. Never to give a second thought. I’ve seen some babes get their heads stomped in by their moms. We take them away not only for their own safety, but also so we can give them a STANDARD of care. This includes vaccines, colostrum, warmth and blankets, and a soft bed. These are just a few benefits.

4. The boys are shipped to veal farms and that is their purpose. I understand the ethical implications, but simply there is no demand for male dairy cattle. Their meat quality is poor and we don’t need many of them for breeding purposes.

5. We keep the girls and raise them to be a part of the farm. They are fed different things depending on what kind of farm you run. Some are fed milk from the cows in the farm. Some are fed a formula. This is once again to provide a STANDARD of care. Some cows individual milk is not good for their babies, can carry immune disorders and other factors. We don’t let them nurse off the mother for a variety of reasons.

Their mouths are gross. And can easily infect mom.

Mom is much more comfortable being milked by a machine.

Letting them nurse off their own mothers will inadvertently bring down overall production. Dairy farms are a business.

6. Cows do not forever produce milk. Much like people they will “Dry off” if there is no demand for it. Milk corresponds with pregnancy, birth and raising young. A typical cow will produce milk for 250-300 days before being given a break. This is then followed by a 2-3 month dry period where they are allowed to eat, relax and prepare for birth all over again.

Just to clarify. I love cows. They fascinate me and I hold a deep respect for them. They work so hard and I know many dairy farmers who break their backs treating their girls better than themselves. Healthy happy cows produce more milk. Stress itself drops milk production like a rock and good farmers are always trying to minimize that. Bad farmers don’t stay in business long.

There are ethical concerns to this industry, like I’ve mentioned. Unlike cows it’s not black and white. It’s very grey. I’d love to keep talking about it and I can keep answering questions if people have them.

You're right - the only animals that produce milk are mothers. But generally, in mass producing dairy farms, the cows don't get pregnant naturally. The mothers get artificially inseminated, get pregnant, give birth to their young, the young are stolen from her and reared for beef or dairy or killed if no use, leaving her in a continual state of distress and grief, usually chained to bars and pumped for milk before the artificial insemination process starts again so she can produce more milk. The reason for the abundance of dairy products is because of this wide-scale non-surrendering abuse. Dairy farmers on a smaller scale may proclaim she's in a more habitable environment and any other line to make you feel it's more ethical, but the cows mostly all end up the same way... and in any case, 100% of the produce you get from shops and supermarkets that you refer to are attained from the mass-producing dairy farms. If you want further information "Earthling Ed" is a great educator on YouTube.

Man, nobody here with the answers.

Selective breeding for the last 10k years.

A heifer is an unbred female cow. Heifers do not produce milk. A dairy heifer is going to be a cow of a dairy breed, Jersey, Gurnsey, Holstein, there's a lot. Beef heifers are never the same breed as a dairy heifer even though they're functionally the same at that life stage.

Once a cow is bred it'll go in one of two directions. The beef cows only produce enough milk for their calves but all mammals produce milk with a supply/demand method (generally). The more milk a calf drinks, the more milk a cow produces. So until weaning begins supply slowly increases with the calf's appetite. For some things you might be able to get some excess milk even from a beef cow but nowhere near the quantities you get from a dairy cow.

When dairy cows have their calf they do generally get promptly removed from momma. But momma is still useless for milking at this point. She's not producing milk. She's producing colostrum. Colostrum is discarded by some farmers, milked and fed to the calf by other farmers. Either way it has to be milked from the cow. Milk production starts quickly, though, as colostrum is only ever at temporary thing. The calf is always removed because cows are on the farm to work and where a beef cow's job is to make meat (which they can do by making more cows) a dairy cow's job is to produce milk.

A dairy cow that has already had at least one calf and is due to have another will actually go dry shortly before she has the calf. Her glands are switching back to colostrum mode.

Dairy cows produce so much milk that their udders are gigantic compared to a beef cow's, even when both are lactating. They produce so much more milk than any single calf could ever drink. They also don't necessarily produce the sort of milk a farmer wants to feed to the calves. Calves drink fortified reconstituted milk (made from dried milk that's had a blend of nutrients added).

The reason why a cow's milk and their calf's needs don't necessarily line up is because of the selective breeding bit. We want cow's milk to taste a certain way. But we also want calves to get a certain sort of nutrition. The nutritional needs of a calf, particularly one you're raising for a specific purpose, is not going to give you the stereotypical flavor of milk, cheese, and yogurt you get in the store.

You take away the human element and yes, a dairy cow and calf could easily stay together and we'd still have plenty of milk. But there's no profit in producing milk. Farmers make pennies per gallon so in order to stay solvent they have to maximize production and quality. So the only time you're going to see a farm where they can keep the calves with dairy cow mommas is a farm that likely packs and sells the product themselves rather than selling it to a factory or brand.

Sauce: I grew up in a farming community for 20 years and visited dozens of mom and pop farms providing cow healthcare and saw the whole industry as seen through the eyes of farmers with less than 10,000 cows.

Yeah they only give milk because they are mothers, and unfortunately a lot of horrible stuff happens in dairy production to both the mothers and the babies.
I highly recommend this documentary narrated by Joaquim Phoenix starting at 53:04 for a behind the scenes look of dairy.

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Also isn’t it curious that humans are the only species to drink another species milk? And why not dog milk- or rat milk? Think of the lattes that could come from the subways of NYC ?! :P

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