How does a cow become a dairy cow?
A Holstein and Brown Swiss Organic Dairy calf socialize together in a pasture at Saugeen Country Dairy
Cows have been kept domesticated for about 10,000 years, mostly to provide us with food, but also as draft animals. Through many generations of breeding, our ancestors selected animals with more milk production than necessary for the raising of their own calf. All cows must give birth to a calf before they are able to produce any milk.
Archeological findings show that humans milked cows and consumed milk over 6000 years ago in northwestern Anatolia. Milking cows is a very long tradition, largely because cows can convert forages like, grasses and leaves — which are not digestible for us, into one of the most complete and wholesome foods for people.
Over time many different breeds of cattle evolved. Some are small, some are large, and they come in different colours and hair types. Some are more for beef production and some more for milk, but they are all mammals — meaning they must get pregnant and give birth to a calf in order to produce milk and they must do this every 1 to 2 years in order to continue to produce milk.
A Brown Swiss Organic Dairy Cow grazes in a large pasture of spring flowers at Long Alley Farms in
Ontario
There are two different breeds of dairy cows on Long Alley Farms: the black and white Holstein cow and the Brown Swiss cow. The lifecycle of the milking cow on the farm starts with the birth of the calf in the maternity pen. The expecting mother cow is within sight of her herdmates in a more quiet area to deliver the calf.
The first milk the calf receives is its mother’s colostrum, which is very high in nutrients and antibodies. The colostrum milk changes gradually into whole milk and the calf gets fed whole milk for a period of 5 months. She consumes about 1000 litres of milk during this time and lives outside in small groups of similar-aged calves in specially designed calf hutches. Here, they are protected from the elements with lots of straw bedding, can socialize together and can enjoy the weather in an outside run. During the first month of her life, she also learns to eat hay and grains until she is weaned off milk at 5 months. This is also the time when we farmers begin to call her a “heifer.”
Learn more about the life of an Organic Dairy Cow on our new cup sleeves!
Cows have a very different digestive system than us humans. They can consume a lot of fibre and make good use of it. For this, they have 4 different stomachs which develop as the calf grows up. During the growing season, the heifer will spend most of her time on pasture and is now in the larger group of the open heifers until she gets mature enough to be bred by a bull at 15 to 16 months. Now she joins the bred heifers, and the bull is always with them. The pregnancy lasts a little over 9 months (283 days). When she is getting closer to calving, she is brought into the milking herd to get used to the older cows and the milking barn until she gives birth to her first calf — and now becomes a dairy cow, herself!
We believe there is always a place for milk and yogurt in people’s diets — because they are one of the few domestic animals that can turn grasses into healthy, digestable food.
