MythBuster MONDAY: Removing the babies from their mother shows that dairy farmers don't care about their animals.

Myth: Removing the babies from their mothers shows that dairy farmers don’t care about their animals. Fact: The future of any dairy herd depends on the health of newborn calves.

Calves grow up to become the cows that produce milk, so getting them off to a healthy start is really important. A farmer spends two years taking special care of each calf before she produces milk for the dairy.  All throughout the birthing process, the cow and calf are closely monitored.  After the new little critter is delivered safely, we take immediate care, just as you would a newborn human baby.  Within 6 hours, we feed the calf two bottles of colostrum, which is its mother's first milk and is rich in fat, protein and natural immunity-building antibodies.   It is extremely important that the calf receives this "colostrum" because it will help ensure the health of the calf throughout life.

Video of a cow giving birth

Video of a cow licking off her calf

Monitoring the "calving pen" is a very important task on any dairy.  Many nights my husband is up multiple times checking on the cows to make sure they are progressing well.  It seems like cows LOVE to calve between 2-4 am.  On larger dairies, where they have more employees, the barns are designed so that there is always someone walking by the maternity area so it is on a constant watch.  Other times, dairy farmers install video systems and link it to their office or home.  (jealous)

We separate the calf from the cow within 24 hours of birth, which eases the stress on both animals.  It also helps prevent disease in the vulnerable newborn calf by moving it to a nearby sterile environment, the calf hutch.  This is a very important step.  Why?  Here are some examples:    Yesterday, we left a calf with the cow longer than normal and almost had a huge disaster.  The cow had accidentally stepped on the newborn's umbilical cord.  When we found the calf, it was laying in a huge pool of blood and almost dead.  My husband immediately started an IV so it could get fluids, gave it Vitamin K to help clot the blood and then tied off the cord.  Whew!  Good save!  She is doing well today but it was definately a close call.  We have also had a mother cow accidentally step on the calf.  It breaks my heart to see a broken leg or broken ribs because we didnt remove the calf. :(

Salsa.... says "Hi!"

For the first three months, our calves live in a hutch, which is an individual housing unit designed for young calves to move around, lie down, eat and drink as needed, while protecting their health and controlling their environment.

Calf hutches

 

Do you have any questions? Please post on here or send me a personal message on fb. :)