milking cows

[kittykat1951]

I grew up on a farm and was around cows all my life. I always thought a cow was a hafer until it was bred once the cow has a calf the calf would drink from the cow for about 6 weeks then the calf would be weened from the cow and the cow would be milked for human consumption. the grass and hay the cow ate would allow it to keep producing milk. and if they aren't milked the buildup can be very uncomfortable for the cow.

P.S
I wrote this post for my elderly mother, the words above are hers. I personally know very little about farming or the dairy industry as a whole, but I am preeeetty sure this isn't how it actually works.

 

[Lou]

but I am preeeetty sure this isn't how it actually works.

It isn't. but it used to be. And there are maybe some milking cows somewhere that that still happens.

 

[FlandersOD]

but I am preeeetty sure this isn't how it actually works.

Every part of this is somehow completely and utterly incorrect.

 

[silva]

About dairy cows

Modern dairy cows are bred specifically to produce large quantities of milk.

www.ciwf.com

 

[Lou]

Every part of this is somehow completely and utterly incorrect.

not completely or utterly.
up until like 70 years ago that was the rule on dairy farms. I bet you can still go to some places in the world and find that it is still done that way.

Granted most of my knowledge of this lifestyle has been romanticized thru Little House in the Prairie books but still...

But that was then, this is now.

 

[silva]

This is a good overview of dairy farming--

Inside the Milk Machine: How Modern Dairy Works - Modern Farmer

How does milk get made? It's a process that is far more shrouded in mystery than it used to be. Modern Farmer spent two days at Ronnybrook Farm in upstate New York to get an inside look at the relationship between cow, calf, milk and farmer.

modernfarmer.com

 

[silva]

I grew up in the city, but had relatives with a dairy farm we would visit. In the beginning they milked by hand, calves would be raised with the mamas. I didn't like cows really, but when they got machines to milk them it upset me a lot. They got more cows, things changed. It was still a small dairy, they certainly cared for all the cows, but having them to take milk just didn't sit well with me. I still ate cheese though, for many years. I just didn't want to look at it and put two and two together

 

[Lou]

Today something like 80% of our milk comes form Large Dairy Farms. In some ways large dairy farms are the worst example of factory farming. Although its hard to compare dairy to eggs. Are the chickens better off because they live shorter lives?

The Small Family Owned Dairy Farm today is so different from the way things used to be. Back then a family could live off just one or two cows, a bunch of chickens, a garden and some trees. Today it is hard to find a farm with less that 50 cows. They all live indoors and are fed special food.

There are some exceptions. I know there is a farm in Upstate NY that has an old fashioned operation and their milk is sold in Boutiques and like $20 a quart or something.

I also suspect that there are subsistence farmers in Africa or something that still have little kids doing the milking.

 

[FlandersOD]

Eh

not completely or utterly.
up until like 70 years ago that was the rule on dairy farms. I bet you can still go to some places in the world and find that it is still done that way.

Maybe I read it wrong but pretty inaccurate by all accounts.

 

[silva]

Eh

Maybe I read it wrong but pretty inaccurate by all accounts.

What parts of the OP do feel are inaccurate?

 

[Danielle]

If cows weren't bred for food, then they wouldn't need to be milked, or if their babies drink their milk instead of people.

 

[Lou]

If cows weren't bred for food, then they wouldn't need to be milked, or if their babies drink their milk instead of people.

A mother will continue to produce milk as long as someone is... suckling. this is true for every mammal. Probably thousands of years ago people discovered this. See Wet Nurse. So it doesn't take a big leap of imagination that thousands of years ago people discovered this worked for cows (and goats, sheep, horses, reindeer...). there is probably some method to keep the milk production going while the calf is weaned.

I don't know if there is some biology involved or maybe its just good animal husbandry but farmers would stop milking their cows, and then let them get pregnant again. (there is what I think is an old wives tale that a human mom can't get pregnant if she is breast feeding - so there might be a story there).

It wasn't till the last half of 20th century that farmers started using all the practices that are now associated with factory farms. I may have a more idyllic and romanticized view of the early days of dairy cows thanks to fiction. Keep in mind that until refrigeration, glass bottles, and pasteurization, milk was not a commodity. Farmers only produced milk for themselves.

Anyway, what I'm saying is if you talked to someone who grew up a long time ago, they could also recall the times before factory farms.