This is probably going to be the silliest question you all have ever heard, but bear with me here. Is it necessary to continuously breed your dairy cows to keep up the milk supply? Or would milking every day sustain them and be enough to keep up supply even if it's only a small supply?
Dairy Cows
- Thread starter hemme26
- Start date
AshleyFishy
Loving the herd life
The lactation period will depend on the cow itself.
Many dairy cows can keep a longer lactation if continuously milked, though a much smaller amount that at peak. You may get a full two year lactation if dedicated.
Many dairy cows can keep a longer lactation if continuously milked, though a much smaller amount that at peak. You may get a full two year lactation if dedicated.
Year of the Rooster
Chillin' with the herd
Eventually, yes, you will have to re-breed her. Once a cow has her calf her milk supply will reach a peak productivity point. After that it will slowly taper off. Large dairies will have their cows breed back while they are still milking and dry them off about 2 months before they calve to allow the mammary system to recover. I would consider you lucky if you milked a single cow for 2 years after one calving.
WildRoseBeef
Range nerd & bovine enthusiast
Q. 1: No, not at all. You can only breed a cow so many times until she become pregnant. Once she's pregnant, there's no sense in breeding her on a continual basis. A cow is pregnant for an average of 285 days which equates to 9.5 months. After she calves, she must have at least two (three at the most) months to allow her uterus to involute or shrink back to its original pre-breeding size and to allow her natural estrous cycle to get back to normal--during those two months a cow's estrous cycle is irregular and abnormal, and sometimes she won't come back into heat a month or so after calving. Once she's back to her normal reproductive rhythms, then she can be bred again.hemme26 said:
But the thing is, breeding a cow does not directly affect milk production. As a matter of fact it's so indirect that it's got almost nothing to do with milk production--exception is for her to have a calf, which, once born, encourages her to begin to lactate. But that's it.
Q. 2: Yes. Regular routine milking is what keeps the milk flowing. If you don't keep up with the routine milking, or don't milk her at all for even several days, she will begin to dry up. If you don't milk her at all, she'll dry up completely, except if she's got a suckling calf on her. You can keep milking her for as long as you like, but most dairies prefer to milk a cow for 10 months, then allow her to dry up and stay dry for 2 months until she calves and starts producing again.
