information report

Calf 

Have you heard about a calf? Well we must of all have, did you ever know we had different kinds of calves like baby cows are called a calf. A female calf is sometimes called a heifer calf and a male is called a bull calf. A heifer is a female that has not had any offspring.  

Did you know that us humans have the same calf muscle as a calf? The calf muscle on the back of the lower leg is actually made up of two muscles. The gastrocnemius is the largest calf muscle forming the bump visible beneath the skin. The gastrocnemius has two parts or heads that create its diamond shape. 

Cows or calves can live up to 18-22 years, a male cow weighs between 500 and 1000 kg and a female cow weighs between 850 and 1870 because they are pregnant, a calf weighs about 86 pounds. There are about three different types of cows in New Zealand, they are called the holstein-friesian, jersey cattle, and the kiwicross.

Holstein-Friesian are a breed of dairy cattle originating from Dutch of North Holland and they are known as the world’s highest production dairy animals. A female weighs about 580 kg and the height of a female is 1.5m.

Jersey cattle are a British breed of small dairy cattle. They are more open minded of heat than the larger breeds. With an average weight of 900 pounds, the Jersey produces more pounds of milk per pound of body weight than any other breed. Most Jerseys produce far too much of 13 times their body weight in milk.  

Kiwicross weighs about 1,500 pounds; they were launched in 2005, they are the most popular breed in New Zealand and their height is 4 feet, 10 inches. 

The cows in New Zealand produce milk about 2,500 gallons and 21,000 pounds and in a day they make about 8 gallons of milk. In 2002 there were about 3.3 million people drinking milk and that is only in New Zealand in New Zealand 13,900 dairy farmers produce over 13 billion litres of milk an average of about 4000 litres each.