How long will cow milk?

[smasters]

I have a cow that had a pre-mature calf. I had to take the calf away from her because he was to small and weak to get up. He is now 5 days old and is drinking 2 quarts of milk replacer twice a day.

How long will a cow keep her milk before she starts drying up without anything nursing on her? She is still very interested in the calf. I put them together 2 days ago and she was very protective of the calf but the calf was still to weak to get around very well so he is back in the basement.

Have I missed my window of putting them back together?

By the way these are beef cattle so I can't hand milk the cow without getting my teeth knocked out of my head.

Thanks for the help

 

[dun]

If the calf gets strong enough to nurse there won;t be enough milk in the cow to do any good. Might as well plan on a bottle calf.

 

[Keren]

yep you might have missed the boat there. Only way of keeping her producing milk is for something to be taking it regularly ie either you milking or the calf sucking