Dairy

The Holstein-Friesian, which is the most common type of dairy cow in the UK, Europe and the USA, has been bred to produce very high yields of milk.

During peak lactation, a high-yielding cow may produce as much as 60 litres per day and up to 12,000 litres over her whole lactation. This has led to a higher occurrence of health and welfare problems including lameness, mastitis and metabolic disorders, as well as infertility resulting in a higher culling rate.

High-yielding dairy cows will typically be slaughtered after three or four lactations because their milk production drops and/or they are chronically lame or infertile.

This is a painful and significant welfare problem for dairy cows worldwide.

Cows may go lame due to various conditions associated with bacterial infection, such as hoof lesions, sole ulcers, laminitis and digital dermatitis.

These conditions can be caused by poor quality floors, ineffective foot trimming, poor nutrition, and prolonged standing on concrete floors.

This is an inflammation of the udder which is the painful result of bacterial infection that is prevalent among dairy cows.

A cow’s udder can become infected with mastitis-causing bacteria due to contamination of milking equipment or bedding.

Cows that are housed for long periods of time are more likely to develop mastitis than those kept at pasture, who are exposed to less environmental pathogens.

This is a major productivity problem for farmers with high-yielding dairy cows.

It can be caused by nutritional deficiencies, stress and poor body condition and is therefore often a sign of poor welfare.

Some cows are still kept in tie-stalls which involves severe confinement; each cow is tethered by either a chain, stanchion (metal bars) or a rope around the neck, for up to 24 hours a day during the winter season (while they go out on pasture in the summer) or even throughout life.

Tie-stalls severely restrict every aspect of cow behaviour; they are unable to socialise, exercise and may even be unable to turn around and scratch themselves.

Cows may be permanently housed or only have access to pasture during limited periods (e.g. in the dry period, when the cow is not producing milk).

Cows are most commonly housed in free stall barns, but they are not always provided with sufficient lying space or bedding, which impacts their comfort during resting and can lead to skin lesions and injuries.

Dairy calves have limited market value as a beef breed due to their poor body conformation and, as a result, will generally either be shot shortly after birth (in countries where veal is not consumed, like the UK) or reared for veal, often in intensive systems.

New-born calves have poorly developed immune systems and rely on colostrum (nutritious first milk from their mother) for passive immunity before their immunity develops.

However, as calves are commonly taken away from their dams shortly after birth, their colostrum intake can be insufficient or inappropriate, leading to poor immune status, making them more vulnerable to disease and infection.

Male calves reared for white veal are fed a liquid milk diet, with insufficient fibre provision. As a result, they suffer from iron deficiency, anaemia, and enteric disease.

Many dairy calves are removed from their mother and housed in single huts soon after birth. This isolation prevents them from forming any social bonds or contact, reducing their social skills and increasing their fearfulness.

In Europe, veal calves are typically housed individually in narrow, fully slatted pens without bedding, for up to eight weeks of age (and even longer outside Europe where there are no legislative minimal requirements related to the group housing of calves).

Transport is extremely stressful for young calves as they are poorly adapted, with underdeveloped immune and stress responses, which leads to high rates of mortality.

Calves are susceptible to heat and cold stress, leg bruising and often succumb to disease during transport.

Minimal transport time is encouraged and should be limited to a maximum of eight hours (inclusive of loading and unloading).

Some calves outside of Europe (where the practice has been forbidden since 2007) may still be kept in veal crates and/or tethered which involves severe confinement.