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Trolley Power: Dairy Products

What are the issues?

In the UK we now have fewer cows but are still getting the same amount of milk. Today's milk machines, with udders so large walking is difficult, provide up to ten times the volume of milk a calf would need. Even more cows are kept permanently inside vast sheds, never to roam the green pastures of our countryside.

The majority of milk sold in UK supermarkets is produced by Holstein type cattle. These cattle have been selectively bred for such high milk yields that they are prone to lameness, mastitis and metabolic diseases. Most are culled after just around three lactations because they are exhausted, chronically lame or infertile.

A small proportion of cows producing milk for most supermarkets are tethered in the cowshed or kept in highly intensive 'zero grazing' systems, where the cows are housed permanently indoors.

For compassionate milk we need high animal welfare systems for dairy cows that provide access to the outdoors, at least during the day in the grazing season, and ensure that all cows have clean, dry bedding material. When housed, the cows should have freedom to move around and exercise.
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How YOU can help dairy cows

  • Choosing organic milk means cows are free-range. According to scientists at the University of Liverpool organic milk is healthier too: the milk contains 68 per cent more omega-3 than standard milk thanks to all the grasses and clovers free-range cows are eating.
  • Soil Association organic milk is better still: uniquely, the Soil Association prevents its farmers from exporting their calves.
  • Another alternative is soya milk. Cholesterol-free and lower in saturated fat, it's healthier and reduces our dependence on cows.
  • Some supermarkets are working to find humane alternatives to calf exports. If you buy milk from a supermarket you can write to them and ask them what their milk suppliers are doing with their male dairy calves.
  • Also look out milk from more sustainable breeds of cow particularly Dairy Shorthorn and Ayrshire which do not have the same problems as typical black and white dairy cows, e.g Duchy Originals milk.

What are we doing?

Free-range calfCompassion in World Farming is working to encourage the use of dual-purpose breeds of cattle where the cows are placed under less physiological strain and the male calves can be reared for beef.

Watch Compassion in World Farming's investigative film, Britain's Battery Cows (1mb WMV movie) is a one-minute film that exposes the shocking truth behind many intensive dairy farms.

Don't forget too the plight of the male born dairy calves. Largely considered redundant by the food and farming industries for their lower quality beef and the UK's poor veal market, male born calves are either shot at birth or exported on long journeys that cause enormous suffering to be reared across Europe, often in unsatisfactory conditions.

Compassion in World Farming is leading the way in trying to find humane and economically viable uses for male dairy calves in the UK, which would bring live calf exports to an end. We are working to bring together key players from government, supermarkets and the farming industry to discuss mutually beneficial ways of moving beyond calf exports from the UK.

We urgently need more support to raise public awareness about the true price of cheap milk. If you can, please make an online donation to support our work today. Your support will give us the resources to stand up to those who would put profit before animal welfare.
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