Dairy farmers are given until the end of 2020 to prove that they are no longing killing bobby calves on the farm. The new rule covers nearly all UK farms from January.
The support of supermarkets to help farmers find markets for their calves and the use of semen is expected to help UK dairy farmers from killing bobby calves from their farms.
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The dirty secret of Killing bobby calves
Dairy farmers are given until the end of 2020 to prove that they are no longing killing bobbly calves on farm. The new rule covers nearly all UK farms from January.
In 2018, an investigation made by the Guardian revealed that around 95,000 bobby calves were being killed annually a few days after birth.
In Australia, hundreds of thousands of bobby's calves are either sent to slaughter or are killed on farms a few days after they are born so that the milk intended for them can be collected and sold to humans. Bull calves and females who are excess to the dairy farm are considered economically insignificant and are separated from their mothers on their first day of life.
Calves as young as five days old are loaded onto trucks and sent to saleyards or slaughterhouses.
In the UK, calves are killed on the farm. A report from Guardian indicates that a farmer pays up to at least $40 per calf to sell it for beef or veal, while early disposal only costs $11.95. Dairy farmers dispose of the calf immediately after birth, either by shooting the calf themselves or hiring a knacker man to do it for them. Some raise the calf for veal or beef, and some sell them for live export.
According to a dairy farmer in the UK, they had to shoot because there is not enough space available on the farm.
Like humans, cows are known for their maternal instincts. The mother cow bonds quickly with her calf. Thus, separating the calf from the mother just a day or a few days after birth, both mother and calf are often heard calling each other for hours. Mother cows have been witnessed chasing after trailers that are carrying the calf and are known to grieve for days after the calf is separated from her, hollering in distress. Dairy cows are also kept continually impregnated and are forced to go through pregnancy again. After the calf is born, it is again taken away for more volume of milk.
The modern dairy cows produce 28 liters per day, or ten times more milk than a mother's calf would need.
The large quantity of milk expected of a mother has a price to pay: the massive weight of udders causes ligaments to strain, foot problems, laminitis, and mastitis. Mother cow is in enormous pain.
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Ways to reduce the killing of bobby calves
The outrage from the animal welfare groups has prompted various actors such as supermarkets and chocolate and milk companies to act. Dairy farmers are given various options to reduce the deaths of bobby's calves.
Here are some of the options:
- Use of semen which would reduce the number of male calves born by 10 percent and produce heifer cow more easily.
- Dairy farms covered by the Red Tractor standards will be required to have a written breeding and management policies in place, and maintain data on all births and death. Farmers are given until the end of the month to comply with the standards of Red Tractor
- A ban on "routine euthanasia of calves" on standard state farms
- As of January 1, dairy farmers have until next year to meet the approval of the standard.
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