Calf
A young bovine from birth until weaning, usually up to about six to ten months old.
Also: calves, bachhda, vatsa
A calf is a young cow or bull from birth until it is weaned. Calves usually stand within an hour or so of birth and should drink colostrum, the first milk, within the first few hours. In beef and many traditional herds they suckle their mothers for six to ten months; in dairy herds they are usually separated early and reared on milk or milk replacer. A male calf is a bull calf, a female a heifer calf. In much of South Asia a cow will not let down milk easily without her calf near, and the bond of cow and calf, vatsa in Sanskrit, is a favourite image in poetry and devotion.