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"The dairy cow is exposed to more abnormal physiological demands than any other class of farm animal," making her "a supreme example of an overworked mother." - (John Webster, Emeritus Professor of Animal Husbandry at Bristol University's clinical Veterinary Science Department.)
Cows are mammals and the females produce milk to feed their young, just like
humans. This means that in order to produce milk a cow must give birth to a
calf and the mother must be re-impregnated every year of her life to keep that
milk supply coming.
Infants
snatched at birth.
Dairy
cows are impregnated for the first time when they are between 15 - 18
months of age. Once born, a calf would normally suckle from its mother for between nine and twelve months. On dairy farms calves are snatched from their mothers within a few days of birth. Calves are either slaughtered, reared as veal or replace lame dairy cows. |
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Male
dairy cows are of no use to farmers because they cannot produce milk. The separation causes immense suffering as a strong mother / infant bond is formed within just hours of birth, meaning their separation is traumatic for both mother and calf. It is common for both the mother and calf to bellow and show signs of distress for several days. Profesor Webster says that this is the ‘most potentially distressing incident in the life of the dairy cow.’ |
Just between eight and twelve weeks later the poor mother is impregnated again even though she is still lactating from the previous calf (i.e she is still producing milk)... and so the cycle continues.
Physical
hardship A dairy cow will spend around seven months a year pregnant and producing large quantaties of milk at the same time. This is an enormous physical demand to put on any living being, and this will happen year after year until the mother is too worn out to carry on and she is sent to slaughter. |
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For the mother to try and keep her strength up she has to eat more than four times the amount a beef cow would need.
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The
cow cannot consume food at this rate because her food intake is limited
by the rate that she can eat and digest grass, also standing and eating
all day in their condition is very tiring because cows would naturally
spend 12-14 hours a day lying down. This is why dairy cows often look
very thin. Profesor Webster likened a dairy cows workload ‘to
that of a jogger who runs for six-eight hours a day’.
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The
dairy cow has also been bred so that their average daily milk yield is
between 30-50 litres a day, (10 times the amount a calf would drink, forcing
her body to work extra hard.) |
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"... a depressing number are culled after only two or three lactations because they are worn out, either through complete loss of body tissue, or breakdown of the udder tissues, or chronic lameness." (Professor Webster).
Artificial
Imsemination
It has now become rare for dairy cows in the UK to mate naturally. Most cows
are impregnated by artificial insemination. This involves putting the semen
of a bull into the dairy cows uterus.
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This
process is very uncomfortable and stressful, and can result in injury
if carried out incorrectly. Courses are available where trainees practice
on live animals, and in January 2005 it was proposed (by Defra) that farm
workers would beable to practice on 'spent' cows in slaughterhouses before
they are killed, (even though this practice was banned in 2002 because
it caused unnecessary stress and suffering to the animals). |
Birth
Problems
have arisen with the use of the semen from large cattle breeds with smaller
cows which leads to difficulties during birth. These difficulties can
include internal haemorage, nerve paralysis and pelvic fracture. The National Animal Disease Information Service say that 46% of cases where a cow is unable to stand up ('downer cow') is caused by calving difficulties. |
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If
a cow 'goes down' by temporary nerve paralysis of fatigue several types
of lifting gear are used to get the cow back on her feet again including
harnesses and lifting bags. Hobbles and shackles are also commonly attached to the cows back legs where they have suffered muscle or nerve damage to keep them stood up. |
If the farmer culled an injured and suffering cow during calving s/he would lose the large quantity of milk she was about to produce so injured cows are often forced to carry on, even if in pain, for seven to eight months until the amount of milk they produce drops. Then they are killed.
What
you can do:
Boycott cruelty and go dairy-free! It's really easy, click
here for more info.
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