North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Child support

I spotted this driving near Killala a couple of weeks ago and had to stop. The cow in the picture was not destined for the knackers yard. Three days after having a calf, she was too weak to stand on her own, so the farmer used a JCB and a harness to lift her. The harness is needed to milk her. A cow that produces milk that is not consumed soon develops mastitis that is bad news for bovines. She is also producing beestings - highly nutritious milk that the cow produces for a week or so after calving - which must be fed to the calf.

Making babies for the modern cow is not all flowers and chocolates. In fact, it is all too often a man arriving in a van with a very long rubber glove. The arrival of the AI man (Artificial Insemination) allows the farmer to ensure that his cows all produce calves at the same time. It also allows the farmer to choose the breed of calf. A dairy farmer must put his cows in calf every year so that they will produce milk. Mostly, the calves will be sold off for beef production. So a Friesian cow (a good milk-producing cow) may be inseminated with Hereford or Charolais sperm, since those breeds are more suitable for beef. However, calves of those breeds tend to be big, and a Friesian cow is not necessary engineered to bear such a calf easily. Hence the trauma and exhaustion at birth.