Chouthi Bai, who lives in Kilchu village, Rajasthan, breastfeeds the calf, that is now more than a month and a half old, three or four times a day.

"After her mother died, I held her in my arms and breastfed her. I nurtured her by feeding her my milk," she said when speaking to a Reuters reporter. "She was so young when the cow died. For me there is no difference between a calf and an infant," she said.

The calf, who follows Bai closely, is also fed bread and grass.

"I feed her three-four times in a day, the same amount an infant requires in a day," Bai added. "Sometimes we have to feed her bread. We give her water to drink and slowly she will grow on this diet. So, even in my absence she is fed. She will grow up eating grass. The gods will be pleased if I raise her."

A local man said that this if the first time anything like this has happened in the village, and that the calf goes along whenever Bai heads to the fields.