From: rghoff@bb1t.monsanto.com
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg
Subject: Dairy Farms and Cows
Date: 16 Apr 92 11:44:27 CST
Organization: Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO


Hi, I was just passing through this newsgroup and saw the thread on
dairy farms. I was really surprize how little people new about them.

Most dairies are family run operations, with a few hired hands as needed.
There are several mega-size diaries that can handle up to 2,000+ milking
head (plus good deal of dry cows).

The normal life of a cow would naturally start as a calf :-)

And at about 15 months or so they can start breeding them (most modern
facilities use artificial insemination - breeding to a bull is no fun
for a cow and not the best method genetically - for a number of reasons).
If she gets pregnant around that time, she'll calve back at around 24
months. Then she can join the milking herd.  Milk production will usually
go about 300 days or so, at which point production drops (obviously this
can depend on the cow) and she gets dried off. About 60 days after that
first calving, you can start looking for heats and safely start breeding
her again.

The dry off is important. If she actually get's pregnant at 60 post
calving, then she'll need about 45-60 days prior to the next calving to 
get her fat reserves up to par for maintaining the fetus and to alow
her to start milking without undo metabolic stress (to much condition is
a problem too!).  Depending on the cow, you can fine tune breedings to allow
for a longer lactation if she's got high production that last for along time,
or visa versa.

A good healthy cow can stay in the herd for 7 or more years (add two years
before they start milking and you've got a 9 year old cow - that's getting
old).

As far as the calves are concerned - half of them are males. Males can go
several ways - semen production (obviously you don't need alot for that),
veal production (obviously this newsgroup doesn't care for that - I 
personally like veal) and some can go for beef.  The females are usually
kept for replacements or sent somewhere else to be raise for replacements.
Although they can be used for meat production too.

That's really some of the basics as far as an individual animal is concerned.

One line of thinking on the group really bothers me though. These animals
are not mistreated. If you think they are, you haven't been on a dairy.
Dairymen are not in it to make big bucks - they're in it cause they love
cows and you can make a living doing it. A small dairy operation run by
a family of four with 60 head is an 18 hour a day, 7 day a week job. You
don't get vacation, you can't take an afternoon off to jerk around, there
are no sick days, it's not 9 to 5.

If there ever was a group of hardworking, dedicated, animal loving people,
the American Dairyperson is second to none.  The dairy cow is one of the
most pampered, well fed, creature in the world (better than most humans).
A sick cow can't be milked. If the cow is medicated, the milk must be
dumped. An unhappy cow will not produce near as much milk as a happy cow,
but will eat just as much (feed is you're biggest cost).

Give the dairies a break. They have a hard enough time trying to make an
honest living without people slamming them and making up stuff. Their
number are fewer all the time (even the number of cows in reducing).

One last point and I'll stop....There has not been a surplus of fluid milk
or cheese products in the last couple of years. I know no one here has
mentioned that, but I keep hearing politicians and other 'city slickers'
saying that.

Just my 2 pennies :-)

Rick Hoffman.