Recently, a few very vocal radicals have been preaching that humans should not be feeding children milk from another species. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but cows have been considered the mothers of the human race, providing early nourishment with their milk for our children for thousands of years.
Until a couple generations ago, many mothers died too soon after childbirth and, unless a wet nurse was close by, the family cow provided the necessary milk to nourish the baby for its first critical months of life.
Back in caveman times, a tamed yak was the supplier of milk. In many underdeveloped countries goats provided milk. The goat was easier to own, feed and could even provide meat for a smaller tribe or family when there was no refrigeration to store unused meat.
When a calf is born it weighs about 100 pounds depending on the breed of cow or if it’s a bull calf or a heifer. Males are a little heavier. Just like humans some births are more difficult than others and require assistance by the farmer or may even require delivery by caesarean section.
Farmers keep records on all insemination dates and projected calving dates and feed pregnant cows a different diet than milking cows. When a calf is born, it is fed colostrum within the first hour of life. The first milk from a new momma cow is called colostrum. Colostrum is very rich in antibodies that pass on to the new calf if it gets it in the first few hours of its life.
Older cows that have had several lactations have colostrum richer in antibodies than a cow that just delivered her first calf. Many farmers keep extra colostrums from an older cow frozen in one meal portions in case a new mother doesn’t have any, or if a cow dies at calving. In these cases the calf will be fed on carefully thawed colostrum from the freezer.
Newly born calves are carefully dried off, their naval is disinfected and they are inoculated to prevent early gastric disorders. The calf is usually placed in a disinfected, newly bedded dry pen away from the mother cow. New mother cows are sometimes unsteady on their feet and could fall or step on the new baby calf and break its leg or even fall on it and smother it. All calves are ear tagged with an electronic ear tag which is used to record everything from its birth date and ancestors to all vaccinations, sicknesses and when it is moved to another barn or farm.
For the first few weeks of the calves life only one of its four stomachs is developed and it has to be fed only milk or high fat milk replacer. Calves are dehorned at a young age using a local antiseptic to prevent pain. Animals with horns can be very dangerous to other animals and the farmers who look after them.
As the calf grows and its stomachs develop it is introduced to a very digestible grain mix called calf starter and then after several weeks a specially formulated TMR mix and hay specially saved for calves.
As the calf grows and gets familiar with solid feed, it is weaned off milk and the diet is changed to provide the best nutrition for a growing teenager.
Heifers that are well fed for the first year of their life will grow taller, faster and stronger just like a well fed teenager. This is the stage when they reach puberty and are inseminated at about 13 months of age so that they deliver their first calf at 22 months of age. Many of these heifers are inseminated with sexed semen to deliver only heifer calves which are smaller than bull calves and hence allow a trouble free delivery.
When today’s farmer chooses semen to breed his cattle he can select for better feet and legs, higher fat content in the milk of the next generation, size, udder attachment and the health of the new calf to come as well as a dozen other traits.
Nutrition and superior genetics have allowed cows to produce 50 per cent more milk in their first lactation than cows did 50 years ago, hence less greenhouse gas produced and less feed needed for the herd. When farmers stop milking the cow about five weeks before her delivering her next calf, her diet is changed to supply maximum nutrition for her health and the calf growing inside her. For the two weeks before she delivers her diet is changed again to a cationic diet to encourage her bones to produce more calcium and be ready for the big draw on calcium that high milk production demands after calving.
After calving the cow’s diet is immediately changed to an anionic diet high in feeds that are high in potassium and calcium like alfalfa, corn, soy and also a high anionic mineral.
Time management of the cows is also extremely important. There are only 24 hours in a day and cows cannot just stand around. Cows have to eat, be milked, groom themselves, socialize, drink water, stand around waiting to be milked, walk to the pasture and back and rest and sleep.
A cow produces most of her milk while lying down. One of the most important health problems that cows have are sore feet. Farmers must reduce the cows wasted time like standing and walking.
The next time you enjoy a glass of cold milk or see a cow happily chewing her cud, think about how much thought went into getting her that way.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
