The life of a dairy cow, from calf to retirement
Born on the farm, in calf at two, milked through the year and out of the herd by about five. The life of a British dairy cow, and how 210’s ran longer.
A dairy cow’s working life turns on one fact: she gives milk because she has had a calf. Almost everything on a dairy farm, from the calf pens to the milking parlour, follows from that.
Born on the farm
A newborn calf has almost no immunity of her own. She gets it from colostrum, her mother’s first, thick milk, and the law says every calf must have it within the first six hours of life.1 In a dairy herd she has her first ear tag within 36 hours of birth and the second within 20 days.2 The number on it stays with her for life. On many farms that number is her name. 210’s was.
On 210’s farm the calves are reared in pens by Jade, the herdswoman. She feeds them, beds them and knows each one. More in our guide to dairy calves.
Growing up
Calves must be fed at least twice a day, and after eight weeks old no calf may be kept in a pen on her own.1 A heifer, a young female who has not yet calved, then grows on for the best part of two years. The industry’s target is a first calf at 24 months; in practice UK herds average later, between about 28 and 30 months depending on the region.3
The first calf, and the first milk
A cow carries her calf for about nine months, much as we do. Once she calves, she joins the milking herd. On 210’s farm, milking starts before dawn.
Her milk rises for the first weeks after calving, then slowly falls. The farmer aims to have her back in calf within a few months, so the cycle can start again. The textbook rhythm is about ten months of milking and two months’ rest, the dry period, before the next calf: a calf a year.4 Real herds usually run a little longer. A British dairy cow gives about 8,278 litres of milk a year.5
Leaving the herd
Most dairy cows leave young. The average cow in the GB milking herd is 4.6 years old.6 Cows leaving the herd have had 3.6 lactations on average, and around 28% of a typical herd is replaced each year.7 When her milk or her health falls away, she is usually replaced by a younger cow, and most go for beef. Read what happens to dairy cows when they stop milking.
A longer life: 210
210 was a 100% Holstein Friesian. She had six calves and gave 38,663 litres of milk over 1,835 days in milk, then she was retired to grass. At eleven she was more than twice the age of the average cow in the herd.
What became of her is the film.
How we know
The photographs were taken on 210’s farm while the film was being made. The rules come from the regulations themselves, and the figures from AHDB, AFBI and National Milk Records. All are listed below.
Sources
- The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007, Schedule 6 (calves): colostrum within the first six hours of life; fed at least twice a day; no individual pen after eight weeks.
- The Cattle Identification Regulations 2007, Schedule 1: in a dairy herd, one ear tag within 36 hours of birth and the second within 20 days.
- AFBI and AHDB, “Reduced age at first calving can increase lifetime performance by 13%”, 14 September 2021: target 24 months; UK regional averages 28.1 to 30.5 months.
- Dairy Herd Management, “Will the 305-day lactation standard go the way of the dinosaur?”: 305 days of lactation plus a 60-day dry period, the traditional one-year calving interval.
- AHDB UK milk yield (Defra figures): 8,278 litres per cow per year, 2024.
- AHDB, “Will there be enough milking cows to meet future demand?”, 9 July 2026: average age in the GB milking herd 4.6 years.
- National Milk Records 2023 analysis of 500 UK herds: average culling rate 28%; cows leaving the herd averaged 3.6 lactations.
Last checked 2026-10-25. Spotted an error? Tell us via the press contact.