Can a Cow Make Milk Without Having a Calf?

Cows, similar to other mammals, can produce milk only after giving birth. The cow's body automatically produces milk to sustain the calf and stops producing once the calf is weaned. Most dairies remove the calves shortly after birth to harvest the milk to sell. In some countries, cows are given synthetic hormones during lactation to increase milk production.

  1. Milk Production

    • Milk is produced by the mammary glands of cows. This same process is true for all mammals. A hormone is released during calving to stimulate milk production. Milk is released through the cow's udder once the teats are stimulated by a calf suckling or manual manipulation. Milk production can only be accomplished once a cow has given birth to a calf. Production levels typically peak approximately 50 days after the calf is born. Levels will then decrease steadily until approximately 305 days after the calf is born. At this time, the cow will often dry up and will be allowed to rest from milk production for two months until she gives birth again.

    Breeding

    • Cows are typically first bred between the ages of 9 and 18 months. The gestation period is approximately 9 months. The cow begins to produce milk once the calf is born and is milked daily after giving birth. On high-production dairy farms, cows are typically bred again 40 to 50 days after giving birth. This breeding cycle maintains milk production throughout most of the year and produces a calf every 12.5 months. This cycle can be difficult to maintain with cows that produce a large quantity of milk, so some dairy farms have moved to a 13- or 14-month breeding cycle or even 18 months to ease the strain on the cows. Most farms separate the calves from their mothers within a day of birth to reduce transmission of disease and simplify management of milking cows. After separation, dairy calves are fed a commercial milk replacement based on dried milk powder.

    Milking Frequency

    • Once you start milking a cow, you must continue to do so daily to maintain production. Most dairy farms milk twice a day, with some even milking three times each day. It is important to milk at the same time each day and to spread the milkings as far apart as possible. If a cow is not milked regularly, she may develop an infection in her udder called mastitis, which is very painful and makes future milking difficult.

    Hormone Use

    • In some countries cows receive hormone treatments to boost reproduction in dairy cows and to increase milk production. The use of these artificial hormones, such as Posilac, can increase daily production by up to 10 percent. The use of some hormones has been banned in Canada, parts of Europe, Australia and New Zealand due to concerns over the safety of the drugs in milk consumed by humans. The United States is one of the few developed countries that allows the use of artificial hormones in dairy cattle.