Before human intervention, cows, like all mammals, naturally produced milk for the sole purpose of feeding their calves. The process of lactation in cows, as in other mammals, is triggered by the hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy and childbirth. Once a calf is born, it instinctively begins to nurse from its mother, consuming the milk produced by the cow’s udders. This nursing stimulates further milk production.
In the wild, or in natural settings, a calf would drink its mother’s milk until it was old enough to graze on grass and other forages. The weaning process typically occurs gradually as the calf starts to consume more solid food and less milk. As the calf nurses less frequently, the cow’s milk production naturally decreases and eventually stops until the next pregnancy.
Human intervention in milking cows began with domestication. Early humans observed that cows produced milk to feed their young and eventually started to milk cows for their own consumption. Over time, through selective breeding, domesticated cows were developed to produce much larger quantities of milk than would be needed just to feed a calf, leading to the modern dairy industry where milking is a regular and essential part of a dairy cow’s life.
