Mares vs Cows

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Missy

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Ok so studies indicate that a mare DOES NOT produce colostrum until she foals. All the worry people go through about mares leaking milk before they foal,it has been proven there is nothing to worry about as the foaling process stimulates the making of colostrum.

Now are cows the same? Are there studies to prove any findings? Do cows make colostrum when they calve or do they start making it weeks in advance?
Thank you :D
 
From the studies I've seen, one of which was posted on here a couple of months ago, they start making it several weeks before calving
 
dun":1z2wer1p said:
From the studies I've seen, one of which was posted on here a couple of months ago, they start making it several weeks before calving
This is what I've always been told.
 
Interesting discussion to compare mares to cows. I've always wished that moma cows would be a little more like mares - hardly no foaling/calving trouble and a very small bag that produces enough milk for the baby without making some huge bag where the moma has troubles. When's the last time you saw a mare with a bad quarter, or huge teats that the baby couldn't get a hold of?
 
cypressfarms":3hahlcil said:
Interesting discussion to compare mares to cows. I've always wished that moma cows would be a little more like mares - hardly no foaling/calving trouble and a very small bag that produces enough milk for the baby without making some huge bag where the moma has troubles. When's the last time you saw a mare with a bad quarter, or huge teats that the baby couldn't get a hold of?

In almost every cow's ancestry (if you go far enough back) there is a milk cow staring back at you and sometimes she pops up in the present. Me and my Grandfather used to argue about those cows (with the "good handlebar teats"). 1) we aren't going to milk the cow and 2) if we were going to milk the cow we would do it with a milking MACHINE so those teats aren't good in either case.

Good to see you back, I thought you were dead.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Mares too make a bag quite sometime before foaling,like cows do before calving. Just curious is all :D
 
I assume then that mares really produce it quickly then as a foal is defenseless until it gets the colostrum. And in calves, the earlier the better as the gut becomes increasingly unable to absorb the antibodies hours after birth.
 

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