Quote:
Originally Posted by Speakeasy
I wouldn't necessarily say 'smart' due to them basing their entire eating habits over an inaccurate view of the dairy industry.
Farmers know that in order to produce good milk, they have to have good cows. And they know that in order to have good cows, they must get good milk. In the large majority of farms (in fact, just about all the ones I'm familiar with), calves are breast fed from their mothers. It saves time and money from having to hand feed the calves yourself.
Cows are milked a single time every day. This is due to time constraints in larger farms with hundreds of milk bearing cows and also keeps the quality of milk higher. The rest of the day, the cows graze and tend to their young.
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having spent a lot of time on a dairy farm my experience was
- calves are taken from their mothers very soon after birth and hand fed - initially from a bottle, but then encouraged to drink from a bucket.
- they usually stay with their mothers only a short term - not even for the full period before she begins to produce normal - saleable - milk.
- the 'first milk' from new mothers is kept separate and hand fed to the calves
- once she begins to produce 'real milk' it goes into the vat, and a few buckets are kept aside for calves.
- cows are milked twice a day (approx 120 cows twice a day - hard work)
- the calves are fed twice a day (which is a lot less than they would be fed if they were with their mothers).
- they are always hungry and try to suck your fingers, your clothes, anything they can get their mouths on
- beef cattle have it better. they stay with their mothers.