In the majority of the countries with a high level of
agricultural development, the feeding of dairy calves is based
on artificial rearing. The availability of milk substitutes
based on by-products from the dairy industry has stimulated
artificial rearing. This is not so in developing countries where
there is a lack of fresh milk. In this case, artificial rearing
must be based on fresh milk. Thus it is not logical to milk by
hand or machine and later give part of the milk to the calf. It
is better to make use of the calf's ability to extract milk from
the cow. Traditional rearing of dairy calves is characterized by
the presence of the calf with the cow during milking to
stimulate milk let-down and it stays with her after milking to
consume the milk remaining in the udder. The time the cow is
with the calf varies between 1 and 12 hours and is inversely
related to the age of the calf. Age at weaning is rarely less
than 6 months. However, in dual purpose herds, natural
(traditional) rearing does not efficient us