What is a dairy cow's habitat?

Answer 1

The habitat of a dairy cow is of a man-made one, either surrounded by walls and a tin roof which makes up a barn or pole-shed, or a fenced area that is called a paddock, corral, or pen. A dairy cow has learned through habit and habituation to come to the milk parlour--another man-made area--to be milked. If she is dry and anywhere from a couple months to a few days from calving, she is either confined to a separate pen with several other cows like her, or to a different corral or even pasture if it's summertime and the farmer can handle having his cows out on pasture. Cull cows may be lucky to face some "pasture time" before being shipped away to slaughter.

That is for the conventional, commercial dairy operation. Many such dairy operations, though, often have their cows confined indoors all their lives and never see, hear, smell or feel the grass beneath their feet throughout their lives, except maybe when they are growing up as replacement heifers. However, for unconventional dairy operations that follow a more grass-fed, natural approach will have the cows out on pasture for most of the year, often only seeing the inside of a barn during milking time or during the winter. This follows for all classes of cattle, from the replacement heifers up to the old cull cows. Some operations, like those in some parts of Europe, allow calves to nurse on the nurse cows or cows that aren't being used for milk production and feel the grass beneath their little hooves.