It is common to group cows according to their stage of lactation in group housing facilities. STAGE 1 – EARLY LACTATION – 14 TO 100 DAYS In early lactation, milk production begins at a high rate which continues to increase for three to six weeks after calving. This is known as peak milk production.
A common question we ran across in our research was “What is peak milk production in dairy cows?”.
Milk production drives nutrient needs of dairy cows. Peak milk sets the lactation curve for cows and should occur 60–100 days after calving . First lactation cows should reach 75% or greater peak milk levels compared to peak milk levels of mature cows in the herd.
This is what we ran into . Achieving peak milk in the lactation curve has been a topic of discussion for a long time in dairy nutrition, and a benchmark used by dairymen as an indicator of early lactation and transition cow nutrition. Most cows achieve peak milk 45 to 90 days in milk (DIM) and slowly lose production over time until dry-off.
When do cows stop producing milk?
Production levels peak at around 40 to 60 days after calving. Production declines steadily afterward until milking is stopped at about 10 months. The cow is “dried off” for about sixty days before calving again.
In order to keep the cows healthy, the cow mother will stop producing milk in the last two months of pregnancy and take a good rest, which is equivalent to the maternity leave of the cow mother. Are cows kept artificially pregnant?
Another thing we asked ourselves was, do cows produce milk during pregnancy?
Cows are also mammals, and they produce milk because they have babies of their own. In order to keep the cows healthy, the cow mother will stop producing milk in the last two months of pregnancy and take a good rest, which is equivalent to the maternity leave of the cow mother.
How much milk should a first lactation cow produce?
First lactation cows should reach 75 percent or greater peak milk levels compared to peak milk of mature cows in the herd. For example, if first lactation cows averaged 30 kg of peak milk while mature cows averaged 40 kg of peak milk, the ratio is 75 percent (30 kg divided by 40 kg times 100).
The cow can give milk for 350 days or more, that is practically a whole year. Shortly after calving, milk production increases sharply, peaks at seven weeks, and remains at a high level for about two months.
What happens to cows when they become “spent?
After four or five years of producing abnormally large quantities of milk, thanks to genetic manipulation and drugs, cows become “spent. Their bodies just give out and they stop producing as much milk.