Dark Side of Dairy report 2014

The Dark Side of Dairy – A Report on the UK Dairy IndustrySimultaneous Lactationand Pregnancy: A HugePhysical BurdenBecause she is re-impregnated while still lactatingfrom the previous pregnancy, a dairy cow spendsseven months of every year simultaneously pregnantand producing large quantities of milk. Thisenormous physical demand requires her to eat overfour times more food per day than a beef cow atpasture (8). Her average milk yield will be around 25litres a day (1, 36) but for some cows it can be up to50 litres a day – this means seven to 14 times morethan a calf would drink, so her whole body andudder in particular is forced to work unnaturally hard(37). In addition, a calf would normally feed five tosix times a day so that the maximum amount of milkin her udder at any one time would be around twolitres (37). But on most dairy farms a cow is milkedonly twice a day, allowing milk to accumulate in theudder and can force her to carry around 20 litres ofmilk or more (7). This greatly enlarges the udder andleads to lameness in her hind legs and predisposesher to mastitis (a painful infection of the udder) (8).Her only rest from this demanding workload isduring the last month or two of her pregnancy whenshe is ‘dried off’ in preparation for calving – then thewhole cycle starts again (38). This ‘dry period’ lastsbetween two months and three weeks before birthand its main aim is to give the cow’s udder a little bitof time to heal and regenerate before she starts tobe milked again (38). Predictably, this gruelling cycletakes its toll on her body:“…a depressing number are culledafter only two to three lactationsbecause they are worn out, eitherthrough complete loss of body tissue(emaciation), or breakdown of theudder tissues, or chronic lameness.”Professor Webster (37)The problems of malnutrition, lameness and mastitisare discussed further in ‘Suffering in Silence’, page 22.Because of the huge pressure this puts on the cow’sbody, the average dairy cow in the UK completes lessthan four lactations (31) – that means that around theage of six, she is slaughtered because she stops beingprofitable (either because of low milk yield, infertility ordiseases that would require costly treatment) (5, 31).Simultaneous pregnancy and lactation mean the cow’sbody is required to work unnaturally hard and she isexhausted and sent to slaughter at a very young age12