What's the life of a dairy cow like?
Healthy and well cared for dairy cows produce high quality milk. Most Australian dairy cows spend their days grazing on grass in the paddocks and are milked twice a day.
Last updated 31/01/2025
The typical day-to-day routine of a dairy cow includes: walking from the paddock to the milking shed first thing in the morning to be milked and to receive some supplementary feed such as grain; returning after milking to a new paddock with fresh grass where she will graze and rest during the day; at certain times of the year when the grass is short she would also receive silage, hay or crop, such as turnips or maize; in the afternoon she walks back to the milking shed for her second milking of the day; then returns to another paddock for the night.
Dairy animals in Australia are reared in a range of environments that vary from warmer subtropical to milder regions. Most farms are pasture based, meaning cows are free to graze on grass in the paddocks. A small number of farms keep cows in big, open sheds and all of their feed is brought to them.
When a dairy cow calf is born her dam (mother) returns to the milking herd, while she is reared by the farmer on milk and other feed until weaning at between two and four months old. She is reared with other calves and they are usually kept comfortable in a shed to protect them from the weather. By the time of weaning, the calf's stomach has matured to be able to digest grass so she is moved into the paddock to graze while she grows and matures. She is typically mated at about 15 to 18 months of age, meaning she will give birth to her first calf at about two years of age.
After giving birth (calving), dairy cows join the milking herd and are milked around twice a day. Her lactation is about 10 months long and then she is 'dried off' (milking ceases) to rest for about two months before her next calving. She then continues with the milking cycle.
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