My Uncle is one of the largest dairymen in this state and I have been to his
farm many times. It is my understanding that the baby calves do stay with
their mothers here (in Alabama at least, I don't know about other places!)
for the first 24-48 hrs to get the colostrum. After that the mother cow is
returned to the milking herd. The baby calves are fed primarily cows milk.
My uncle at least,  pumps the milk from the cows who have given birth to
their FIRST calf separately from the other cows who  have been there and done
that before. This milk goes into a separate tank. Also any milk from a cow
with mastitis goes there,  as well as any extra milk if his big tank is full
and has not been emptied.  (see he even knows milk from mastitis is okay to
drink for baby calves, but they won't let him sell it to us haha)  They do
have milk powders (ie.. formula) if they happened to not have enough in that
tank, but honestly I have never been there when they did not have ample. In
fact, we use to go down there, (2 1/2 miles from my house) and get that milk
ourselves to feed to our baby calves if we had any we were bottle feeding.

I am sure not all dairy farms do this the same way.  But this at least is how
he does it.

Hope you all have a great day.

Beth O'Donnell, LLL Leader and IBCLC
also,
Administrator, East Lake UMC Academy, and inclusive Church School
<<A HREF="www.teachus.com"><www.teachus.com</A>
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abraham
Lincoln

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