Give that baby her bottle!

Every time I give a tour of the dairy farm, and we get to the calf area, the question inevitably pops up from someone- "Why aren't they with their moms?" 

I would always give the same answer- because their moms are working milk producers, and this is like day care for the calves. This answer has always sufficed, and made sense to everyone. But lately, I've been talking with multiple dairy producers a day, and have realized there are numerous reasons it's beneficial to separate dairy calves from their mothers. 

*It's important to note right here, right now- dairy calf does not equal beef calf. Completely different type of bovine, completely different management, completely different goal. Beef producers have just as long of a list for why they keep the calf on the cow as dairy producers have of why they don't. 

With that in mind, here we go:

1. Dairy calves slobber...a lot. I can't tell you how many times I've bottle-fed a calf and it has literally slobbered all over me. When a calf nurses its mother, it slobbers on her too, which puts her at risk for udder infections. Cow gets an udder infection, cow gets sick, milk quality and cow both suffer. 

2. Less stress for mom and baby- studies have been done researching stress levels of cow/calf pairs that have been separated immediately versus pairs that were separated later. The studies concluded there was significantly less stress to both mom and baby when separating immediately. Not only is it doing the cow and calf a favor to prevent them from unnecessary stress, but it's helping the farmer produce. Cows in stress do not milk nearly as much as a relaxed cow will. 

3. Milk Replacer is a good thing! Since calves don't nurse their moms, they are fed a milk replacer, which is like baby formula, but on a larger scale. The calf is fed the same amount of replacer everyday, mixed the same way. This ensures the calf receives a consistent diet, which helps it to grow to its full potential (aka one happy, healthy calf). 


4. Cows can get their calves sick pretty quick. I was just talking to some dairy professionals at Oklahoma State University, and they used to house their calves across the fence from the milking cows. They said the number of calves that got sick once moved there was crazy. So, they moved the calves to an area where there was no contact with the cows, and have seen a complete turnaround in calf and cow health.

5. Milking time would be a mess. When you bring cows in to milk, it's already hard enough to keep them all moving toward the milking barn at the same, let alone add a bunch of calves running around. Cows would be bellowing for their calves, everyone would be scrambled up, and it would be one stressful, chaotic mess for the cows, calves, and milkers. 

Dairy producers genuinely care about the well being and health of their herd. Every single producer I've talked to has discussed with me ways he/she has taken measures to optimize cow comfort. 

"I am responsible for the health and well-being of the cows on my dairy. The cows take care of us when we take care of them. Happy cows equal happy dairymen." -Dairy Producer