It is likely that you will need to have calves weaned for at least 30 days to "dry" the cow up before the cows and their calves could be commingled. In our research, we have weaned calves at varying periods (four days, eight days, and 12 days) before turning the calves and dams back together. Calves weaned for each of these periods all mothered-up and began suckling their dams. When we measured milk production, we found that all cows that had their calves weaned for any of these periods produced milk after the calves were returned. Milk composition did not change much depending on whether cows had their calves weaned for four or eight days. However, when calves were weaned for 12 days, milk composition was slightly different, indicating that the cows were beginning to dry up. So it may take at least 30 days to "dry" the cow up.

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