Page "Calf" Paragraph 12

Purebred female calves of dairy cows are reared as replacement dairy cows.

Most purebred dairy calves are produced by artificial insemination ( AI ).

By this method each bull can serve very many cows, so only a very few of the purebred dairy male calves are needed to provide bulls for breeding.

The remainder of the male calves may be reared for beef or veal ; however, some extreme dairy breeds carry so little muscle that rearing the purebred male calves may be uneconomic, and in this case they are often killed soon after birth and disposed of.

Only a proportion of purebred heifers are needed to provide replacement cows, so often some of the cows in dairy herds are put to a beef bull to produce crossbred calves suitable for rearing as beef.