Dairy Cattle

The dairy industry

(Numbers in the text refer to references - you can click on any of these numbers to see the references.)

In 1998 there were just over 3 million dairy cows in Australia ( 1 ). Around 60% of milk production comes from Victoria ( 2 ).

The number of dairy farms and the number of cows has decreased steadily over the years. On the other hand, the size of herds is increasing-herds of more than 200 cows are common. What has also increased is the milk production per cow. In 1950 a cow averaged around 1700 litres of milk per year, which had increased to around 4500 litres by 1996 ( 2 ). Another way of looking at this increase is that the 4715 litres of milk produced by a cow in 1997-8 is one third higher than in the mid-80s ( 1 ).

Cows as milk machines

In Australia, most dairy cows graze outdoors, unlike in Europe, where they are often kept indoors and fed on concentrated rations to make them produce even more milk. Producing so much milk, many times more than is needed to feed a calf, is a large burden on the cow. Speaking particularly of the European intensive dairy system, Professor John Webster has described the metabolic stress suffered by cows producing 35 litres of milk a day:
" The amount of work done by the cow in peak lactation is immense. To achieve a comparable high work rate a human would have to jog for about 6 hours a day, every day " ( 3 ).

Many people don't realise that to produce milk, a cow has to produce a calf every year. The calf is allowed to suckle for a short time to get a dose of colostrum, containing the mother's antibodies to infections. After as little as 1 day, cow and calf are separated so that the cow's milk can be sold. Two thirds of farmers in a WA survey left calves with their mothers for less than 3 days ( 4 ).

The separation of mother and calf is extremely traumatic because the natural bond between them is very strong. According to one dairy farmer, they bellow for 3 days after separation. For an imaginative interpretation of how the cow might feel, go to Voices for the animals and see the poem "What milk entails" by a year 9 country student.

Around 50% of cows become pregnant after artificial insemination ( 2 ). They are milked for about 10 months after giving birth, rest for 6-8 weeks and then give birth again ( 5 ). So the cycle continues, until the cow fails to get pregnant, doesn't produce enough milk, or becomes ill, in which case she is sent to slaughter. All dairy cows end up at the slaughterhouse.

Injury and diseases

Around 26% of cows in dairy herds are culled each year, according to a NSW survey. In this survey, the reasons for culling were reproductive failure (32%), udder disorders (28%), miscellaneous (15%), low milk production (12%), calving-associated disorders (6%), lameness (4%) and surplus to needs (2%) ( 6 ).

The most common disease of dairy cows is mastitis, which is a bacterial infection of the teats and udder. In spite of penalties for farmers who fail to control mastitis, it still costs the industry $120 million a year in Australia ( 7 ).

Many cows have low level infections, as shown by white blood cells in the milk. With serious infections, the milk is clotted and has to be thrown away. The udder can become hot and swollen, which is obviously very painful for the cow. If the bacteria enter the bloodstream, the cow can die. The infection is passed between animals mainly through milking equipment. It is treated with antibiotic injections into the affected teats ( 8 ).

Another major problem is lameness. In several Queensland herds, almost 3% of cows were severely enough affected to be treated by a vet, which means that an estimated 11% were affected less severely ( 9 ). The extent of lameness is increased by higher energy feed, and by standing on concrete and in muddy yards. Affected feet can be hot and swollen, and may discharge pus.

A survey of 73 farms in Victoria found that 88% of herds were affected to some degree by lameness, with the number of affected cows in the herds ranging from 0% to 31% ( 10 ).

Australian researchers have commented:
" Lameness in dairy cattle is a major health problem and, on the basis of problems associated with lameness such as pain, reduced food intake and loss of body condition, lameness can be considered as a serious welfare problem for dairy cows " ( 11 ).

In general, about 5% of cows have calving problems ( 8 ). However, in a WA study 16% of heifers (young cows) had problems ( 4 ). There are also more calving problems when drugs are used to induce premature labour, so that all cows give birth around the same time. This method is regularly used by Victorian farmers in seasonal calving herds ( 12 ). It increases calving problems, the number of cows with retained placentas and other clinical diseases, as well as the number of deaths among calves and cows over 6 years old (9.7% of cows died, compared to 1.8% when not induced). Clearly induced births are not for the benefit of the animals, but only for the convenience of humans.

Heat stress can cause great discomfort to cows. When they have no shade in hot weather their body temperature rises, their appetite and food intake decreases, and they produce less milk. Paddocks and yards must have enough shade for all cows, preferably tree shade ( 13 ).

Bovine somatotropin (BST)

BST is a hormone that in some countries is injected into cows daily to produce large increases in milk production. Dairy cows already have hugely enlarged udders, and this hormone makes them even bigger. Cows have to eat more concentrated feed to get enough energy and nutrients to produce so much milk, which increases their levels of lameness and digestive disorders ( 5 ).

BST is legal in the USA, although the European Union imposed a moratorium until the year 2000. Fortunately BST is not used in Australia because the industry thought consumers would react against it.

Mutilations in the dairy industry

Dairy cattle are routinely dehorned, and some also have their tails removed, both of which are painful mutilations.

In Victoria and Tasmania in particular, tails of dairy cows may be removed to just below the vulva. A large scale survey in Victoria showed that 35% of farmers routinely tail dock their cows, and have no intention of changing their ways ( 14 ). Three quarters of these farmers use rubber rings to cut off blood supply in the tail so that it withers and drops off, while the rest use knives. The average age at docking is 18 months ( 14 ).

Farmers who carry out this mutilation believe that milking is finished faster, with better milk quality, docked cows are easier to handle, have less mastitis, fewer flies, and are less likely to transfer leptospirosis to humans ( 14 ).

Contrary to these beliefs, an examination of evidence by the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries concluded: ( 15 )
" The existing scientific evidence does not support claims that tail docking of dairy cows reduces the prevalence of mastitis, improves the clinical health of the cow, reduces faecal soiling of teats and udders, reduces bacterial contamination of milk or reduces the incidence of leptospirosis in staff ".

While there is no evidence of beneficial effects of tail docking, there is evidence of harmful effects, including:

A New Zealand study compared tail docking with rubber rings versus a heated docking iron, a scissor-like tool that also cauterises the wound ( 16 ). With rings there was no significant rise in the stress hormone cortisol in the first 8 hours, while with the docking iron there was a sharp rise in the first 45 minutes. Some calves docked with the iron also haemorrhaged and had to have their tail stumps bandaged.

The docking iron produces second or third degree burns and so may destroy nerve endings after initial intense pain. The ring, in contrast, is more likely to cause chronic irritation rather than intense pain.

Tail docked cows suffer more fly irritation. They have more flies on their hind quarters that cows with tails, stamp their rear legs more often, and flick their tail stump more often, even though flicking the stump is ineffective in removing the irritation ( 17 ).

Most amputations result in the formation of neuromas, abnormal masses of nerve endings that produce chronic pain. Australian researches have suggested that the tail stumps of docked cows also develop such neuromas ( 14 ):
" As traumatic neuromas, often used as being indicative of chronic pain, invariably develop after limb amputation in humans, in beak stumps after trimming of domestic poultry and in tail stumps of pigs after docking, it is also possible that traumatic neuromas, and as a consequence chronic pain, may exist in the tail stumps of docked diary cows. There is evidence that cows that were slaughtered as adults (> 3 years old) and that had been docked using a knife when they were 12-18 months old, had neuromas in their tail stumps ".

Dairy cattle are routinely dehorned, usually while still young. The horn is an extension of the skull and contains blood vessels and nerve endings, so removing the horns is very painful.

In one study, calves were dehorned either with a butcher's saw, guillotine shears, wire, or a dehorning scoop that scoops the horn bud out of the skull. In all cases the stress hormone cortisol in the blood stream rose sharply for 6 hours, suggesting that all methods were similarly painful ( 18 ).

The rise in cortisol can be prevented by using the local anaesthetic lignocaine or the longer acting bupivacaine. However, this effect lasts only a few hours, after which pain sets in ( 19-22 ). Further pain relief is needed, either more local anaesthetic ( 21 ) or an anti-inflammatory drug such as Ketoprofen ( 22 ).

The fate of calves

After calves are taken away from their mothers, they are fed milk from a bucket or trough. They can be trucked off to slaughter as young as 1 week old. These baby orphans, who should have the comfort of their mothers, have to cope with the stress of transport and strange environments.

Transport is clearly frightening for the calves, as shown by increases in the stress hormone cortisol ( 23 ). According to the Code of Practice for Cattle, calves can be transported for up to 10 hours. They can be kept without food for 24 hours while waiting for transport, sale or slaughter.

Loading and unloading is particularly difficult for young calves. A New Zealand study observed the number of calves falling over on loading ramps of various inclines: ( 24 )

Incline of ramp

4.2 degrees

12 degrees

18.8 degrees

% calves falling

7%

26%

80%



An examination of slaughtered bobby calves showed that an average of 50% had injured stifle joints in the back legs, possibly as a result of slipping and falling during transport ( 25 ).

There is an increase in deaths among calves after transport - the stress, fatigue, dehydration and loss of weight make them more susceptible to illness. Australian researchers have concluded: ( 11 )
" Studies on bruising, weight loss, and mortality in transported calves indicate that the welfare of these animals may be seriously compromised ".

Some female calves are raised to replace their mothers in the herd when the latter are sent off to slaughter. Other calves, mostly males, are fattened for a few months to be slaughtered as veal. In 1998, 1.3 million calves were slaughtered in Australia ( 1 ).

In a Victorian study, 7% of calves died within their first 7 days ( 26 ), while in a WA study 4% died before they were weaned off milk ( 4 ). In the latter study, 20% of the calves had scours (diarrhoea), and 25% of the farmers regularly added antibiotics to milk fed to the calves ( 4 ).

A review of studies on induced births found that from 13.5% to 35% of premature calves die ( 11 ). When calves are induced very prematurely, they are thin and weak, don't suckle properly, and can't efficiently absorb antibodies from their mother's milk ( 11 ). The death rate is higher the earlier the birth is induced, as shown in a study of Victorian herds: ( 26 )

Weeks to birth

Death rate of calves to 7 days

 
 

Normal

Induced

Less than 7 weeks

4%

58%

7-9 weeks

8%

71%

More than 9 weeks

1%

95%



Clearly the welfare of the calf is not a major consideration in these induced births.

Veal crates

In Europe and the USA it is still legal to raise calves in narrow individual crates and to feed them an iron-deficient liquid diet so that their flesh is white, in fact anaemic. Such veal crates were banned in the UK in 1990 because of their obvious cruelty. However, calves were then exported live from the UK to France and Holland, where crates are still legal. There have been massive protests to stop this trade, and one protester was killed when she was hit by a cattle truck.

Australia does not produce "white veal", but it is not actually illegal. There is a Code of Practice for the Welfare of Cattle, but it is not legally enforceable in most states. The Code says that calves should not be fed an iron-deficient diet, that they should be given some solid food after 3 weeks of age, and that they should have a minimum of 1.5m2 of space, although they may be kept in individual stalls.

However, when a company in Victoria set up individual crates with only 0.96m2 per calf, there was nothing that could legally be done to stop it. After media exposure and bad publicity, other cattle farmers seem to have applied pressure to the company to stop this method of raising calves ( 27 ).

There are farms that produce "pink veal". One-week old calves are moved into sheds, but they are usually kept in group pens. They are not made anaemic, and they usually have solid food to chew, such as straw or pellets, as well as milk. They are often slaughtered when they are about 16 weeks old.

The killing of calves, whether at 1 week of age of later, is part and parcel of the dairy industry. To avoid this cruelty, see Vegetarianism - the cruelty free diet.

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