Yes: to produce milk.
A bred cow or a pregnant cow, or, in the dairy industry, just a cow. In sale barns, if she has a calf at side, she is also referred to as a 3-in-1 or a three-fer or suckling bred cow. If she's lactating, like in a beef or dairy herd, then she's called a nursing bred cow, lactating bred cow or bred lactating/milking dairy cow. If she's not nursing or lactating, she's called a dry bred cow non-lactating pregnant cow if you really want to get technical. In the dairy industry, a lactating heifer that has already had her first calf is referred to as a first-calf heifer; once she has a second calf she is generally referred to as a cow. In the beef industry, a heifer that is pregnant with her first calf is called a bred heifer.
AI is a method for a dairy cow to get pregnant. She should catch (or get bred) within a day or two after being AI'd.
Two to three months post-partum.
Oestrous is when the cow shows "heat" meaning she is ready to be bred.
It could be safe to say that cows were starting to get selectively bred for dairy production before recorded history, such as before the 18th century and even 200 years before then.
There are dairy bulls. If the cow is not bred, she will not produce milk. Bulls are necessary to do this. Although, many cows are now artificially inseminated. Unless dairy heifers are needed to increase the herd or to replace cows that are too old, any bull's semen will do.
Sad to say, the main difference is the obvious distinction in what they're bred for. A dairy cow has been specially bred to produce large volumes of milk, while a beef cow has been specially bred to accumulate large volumes of muscle (which becomes the meat people will eat). Dairy cattle do not have to have genes that would cause them to accumulate much meat on their bones, since their primary purpose is producing milk (which is why Veal, the baby calves of dairy cattle, is usually so lean). Beef cattle do not have to have genes that would make them produce milk, sine their primary purpose is to bulk up and produce a nice slab of steak. :'( Poor Angus.
Yes, but for best milk production yearly breeding is advised.
Yes, if she is continuously milked everyday without any breaks in between.
A cow IS female. A cow is a female mature bovine that has had a calf. However the general population tend to refer to a " cow" as a more general term for any bovine of the Bos taurus or Bos indicus species, particularly if they can't tell the sex of the animal from near or far.
A cow. Or, if you want to go into specifics, a dairy cow.
Dairy cows are not built or made to be camouflaged. They are a product of intensive artificial selection for the purpose of being used by humans, not to survive in the wild.