Do cows have to give birth in order to be milked?

Question

or do they just have milk all the time?

Answer 1

They do not have to give birth, but they DO need certain hormones in order to produce milk.

If the cows are given these hormones (in their feed), they will produce milk at any time.

Answer 2

yes, cows that produce commercially sold milk are artificially inseminated.  

Answer 3

Before a cow gives birth, she is a heifer.  A non-producing young cow.  They CAN be forced to give milk with hormones, but that is very expensive.  Most farmers prefer to get them pregnant (either AI or naturally) to start them producing.  Once the calf is born, they are removed from their mother (almost instantly) and the cow goes into the production line.  If milked constantly (year round) they can keep producing.  If it is ever stopped, then they have to be "started" again with pregnancy (or hormones),

By the way, the calves produced often get sold as veal, unless they are female with good genes, then they may be raised for milking.

Answer 4

Just like all mammals they have to give birth to produce milk.No, they are not given hormones to produce milk; the hormones that some cows are given is in order to produce more milk than they would naturally.

Artificial insemination is sometimes used instead of using a bull, but the results are the same; giving birth to a calf.

Answer 5

yes

Answer 6

The most efficient way is to get them knocked up. After a short period during which the milk can be used only for feeding the calf, the milk clears up enough to be sold for human use. Ten months later, the cow gets dried up and gets bred again.