What happens if cow is not milked?

Question

Somewhere in between a vegan and non-vegan, I am skeptical about what happens if cow is not milked regularly.

1. Will it die due to mastitis or any other infection?

2. Will it get dried up (stop producing)? Will drying up cause an issue to the cow?

Source 1. Here one of the participant raised the issue about cow getting mastitis if not milked

Source 2. Lindsey Worden, Communications Manager, Holstein Association USA & Holstein Foundation.

Source 3 : Vegan point of view

Similar quora discussion

Answer 1

There is a possibility of death due to injury and eventual infection if a dairy cow is not milked. Many wild or "less-domesticated" (if you'll allow) breeds of cattle, bison and other bovines don't suffer from the same danger.

Immediately, the real problem is that the udders will swell and cause the cow severe pain and stress if not released. Generally the milk will stop producing and not cause a literal rupture at some point, but the udders may be so tight they become very vulnerable and inflamed. This can lead to infections and other health problems, which can then lead to death.

Pro Tip: Be kind and milk dairy cows at least every day or two while lactating.

Oh, in case the summary version isn't clear:

1. Yes, it will probably become infected.
2. It can dry from the pressure. Any hormonal transition can have effects on health. You dont want to attempt this with a cow that just started a lactation cycle. The best way is to let the current cycle run on then dry using low-calorie high fiber diets.

Sources:

• Effect of genetic merit, milk yield, body condition and lactation number on in vitro oocyte development in dairy cows

  S.E.M. Snijders 1, 2, P. Dillon 2, D. O'Callaghan 3, M.P. Boland 1

• Support info, severity of mastis, links to inflammation, variability in milk production:

  Georgette Vandeputte-Van Messom, Christian Burvenich, Eddy Roets, Anne-Marie Massart-Leën, Roger Heyneman, Wim D. J. Kremer and Arie Brand (1993). Classification of newly calved cows into moderate and severe responders to experimentally induced Escherichia coli mastitis. Journal of Dairy Research, 60, pp 19-29. doi:10.1017/S002202990002731X.

• Compiled research including udder strain during transition to non-milking, many references in article

• Inflamed udders create good environment for mastis-friendly bacteria

  ISOLATION OF PROTOTHECA ZOPFII FROM INFLAMED SECRETION OF UDDERS EDWARD MALINOWSKI, HENRYKA LASSA AND ANNA KŁOSSOWSKA Department of Pathophysiology of Reproduction and Mammary Gland, National Veterinary Research Institute, 85-090 Bydgoszcz, Poland

• Effects of Diet on Short-Term Regulation of Feed Intake by Lactating Dairy Cattle

  Michael S. Allen Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824-1225

• A Dairy Cow Body Condition Scoring System and Its Relationship to Selected Production Characteristics

  E.E. Wildman 1, G.M. Jones, P.E. Wagner 2, R.L. Boman 3 H.F. Troutt Jr., T.N. Lesch

• 20 years raising cattle and various livestock

• Google
• Oregon State

Answer 2

The answers are

1. Will it die ? Due to mastitis or any other infection-Depends on whether it is diseased or not.

   No if it is a pasture-fed, primiparous, nonpregnant cows since research shows that partial milk synthesis is possible even after 28 days of nonmilking in pasture-fed, primiparous, nonpregnant cows.

   Yes if it has severe udder stress or mastitis.

2. Will it get dried? Will drying up cause an issue to the cow?

   No it will not cause an issue to an healthy cow since its a normal occurence in a cow's life cycle. You can read more about that here.

Effects of reduction of milking in cows:

1. Reducing milking frequency reduces milk yield. Dry period requirement is peculiar to dairy cows.

   Most dairy cows throughout the world are milked twice daily. In intensive dairying systems, however, it is not uncommon to increase milking frequency to between 3 and 6 times daily to increase milk production. Reducing milking frequency is much less common; however, once-daily milking of dairy cows, practiced either strategically during certain parts of the lactation or for the entire lactation, is not uncommon in key dairying countries where less emphasis is placed on milk production per cow. The practice fits well with more extensive dairy production systems, particularly those based on grazed pasture. A feature of once-daily milking is that it reduces milk yield by approximately 22%. Source: Invited review: reduced milking frequency: milk production and management implications

2. Long periods of nonmilking is noted to result in reduction of milk secretion, milk composition modification, and eventually shrinking mammary glands.

   Conclusions : Changes occur in the mammary gland during the dry period which influence mammary cell proliferation and mammary function in the subsequent lactation. Source: Dry Period in Dairy Cattle

3. Lactoferrin is noted to increased during short nonmilking periods of 2 days.

   Two experiments with cows in mid and late lactation were carried out to examine milking strategies to increase milk lactoferrin concentration and yield. Milking was suspended in cows normally milked twice daily, for periods of 2, 4, or 7d (mid lactation) or 2 or 4d (late lactation) after which cows were milked out and twice-daily milking resumed for 4d. In all groups, lactoferrin concentration was significantly increased during the remilking period, approaching concentrations similar to those found in human milk (~1 g/L). Lactoferrin yields were significantly higher in all treatment groups, although increasing the nonmilking period beyond 2d offered no advantage. Source: Suspension of milking in dairy cows produces a transient increase in milk lactoferrin concentration and yield after resumption of milking

SUMMARY:

1. Partial milk synthesis is possible even after 28 days of nonmilking and fully reversible if remilked after seven days of nonmilking in a pasture-fed, primiparous, nonpregnant cow. This shows that nothing severe happens to a pasture-fed, primiparous, nonpregnant cow if left unmilked for a period of 28 days.

   These data indicate that the process of involution is fully reversed after remilking following 7d of milk stasis but more extended periods of nonmilking prevent the complete recovery of lactation. However, even after 28d of milk stasis, the milk synthesis capacity of the mammary gland could still be partially recovered. Source: The effect of milking reinitiation following extended nonmilking periods on lactation in primiparous dairy cows

2. However, if udder stress or infection causing mastitis occurs during the nonmilking period, this might result in the death of the nonmilked diseased cow.

   Whether or not cows will die if they're not milked depends on two factors: How much they're milking at the time, and how fast milking ceases. If a cow is only producing 20 pounds per day or less per day, she can be "dried off" (caused to cease milk production) simply by stopping milking her. That happens to almost every cow every year, and is a normal part of the "have a calf--produce a lot of milk per day---milk less and less per day--dry off--have a calf" cycle that's a cow's life. Done right, there's no problem at all.

   However, if a cow is producing much more than 20 pounds per day, stopping milking her in one fell swoop will cause severe udder stress including inflammation, and the more she's milking the greater the chance that this stress and the resulting infection could kill her. Unfortunately, we have first-hand experience about this in this region (45 miles south of Montreal) since a few years ago we had a devastating ice storm that killed electric power for several days. One farmer who couldn't get a generator lost a bunch of high producing cows when he wasn't able to milk them. (He had about 150 cows, and milking by hand was out of the question.) Source: Can dairy cows die if they aren't milked?