There is an opinion that in order to give milk, cows must always be pregnant. We decided to check if this is so. 

The statement that cows have milk only during pregnancy, you can find on cognitive sites About animals. Interested, is it so, visitors services questions and answers. Posts with such headings are found on the blog platforms (for example, on "Zen"). Users social networks They say that they were surprised to learn that "cows give milk only if they are pregnant, and not just because they are cows."

Milk in cows, like other mammals, Designed For feeding the cubs, so cows really do not give milk simply by the fact that they are cows. Samki vertical do not produce milk, for this they need to achieve puberty (approximately in 15 months), and then become insole (that is, pregnant) so that their mammary glands develop completely. 

Nevertheless, before the first edema, the cow, even being pregnant, does not give milk. Moreover, and within a few days immediately after childbirth, it is not milk that is developed in its mammary glands, but the so -called colostrum - a liquid containing a large amount of antibodies to various bacteria and viruses and designed to develop a passive (that is, not acquired as a result of an infection) immunity from the calf. In addition, unlike milk, in colostrum Contained A larger number of vitamins, minerals, growth hormones and other substances necessary for the cub in the first days of life. This substance is useful, but unsuitable for mass production, since due to its composition it is poorly subject to pasteurization and therefore it can be stored very shortly.

The physiology of lactation of mammals in general does not provide for the mechanism of milk secretion during pregnancy: during this period, hormones estrogen and progesterone Block The release of prolactin (a hormone responsible for lactation) from the pituitary gland, and also make the mammary gland cells immune to it. After childbirth, the hormonal “blockade” is removed due to the release of the placenta along with the fetus and reducing the activity of the ovaries. After the edema, the cow can give milk during Ten months, by the end of this period, its amount is naturally reduced. New lactation in animals begins only after the next birth.

Pregnancy in cows, like in people, lasts about nine months. Since farmers tend to get as much milk as possible, and the body of the milk cow as a whole ready By the next edema, already 12-14 months after previous births, usually animals are again fertilized, without waiting for the end of the lactation. In this case, cows can still produce milk during pregnancy, and in industrial livestock they really give birth to almost the entire part of life, when they can give milk (and this Three or four years). As for the meat breeds of cows or animals contained in small private farms, the owners of which are not interested in the almost year -round possibility of milking, the periods of lactation and pregnancy usually do not intersect. 

Thus, without getting pregnant or giving birth to a calf, cows really cannot give milk. In the process of pregnancy itself, it, like other mammals, does not stand out, since this process is blocked by hormones. A pregnant cow can give milk only if it was fertilized until the previous lactation has yet ended (and it usually happens on commercial farms). Nevertheless, the hoteling cow does not need to become pregnant again to give milk within ten months after childbirth, since it will be produced in a natural way. But if the owner of the cow wants her to continue to give milk with a minimum break, then the cow must be born and give birth every 12-14 months, but this applies mainly to industrial livestock.

Photo on the cover: pexels.com

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