Dark Side of Dairy report 2014

The Dark Side of Dairy – A Report on the UK Dairy Industryin the UK (111, 112). It is believed that the market isworth in excess of £50 million a year in the UK alone(112, 113).The dairy farming of sheep is less practiced in theUK, but there are still around 200 flocks of dairysheep, totalling 12,000 ewes (114). As with goatsraised for dairy, dairy sheep are often kept inside; theexcuse being that they are not as ‘hardy’ as breedsraised for meat (115). Of course, keeping sheep inone place makes milking easier for the farmer.Production from conventional sheep breeds is only100 to 200 pounds of milk per lactation. However,specialised dairy breeds can produce 400 to 1,100pounds of milk per lactation (116).Unwanted male lambs will be killed and disposed ofin exactly the same way as billy goats deemedsurplus to requirements. Both goats and sheep keptfor dairying can suffer an extensive range of diseases– many of which are exacerbated by zero-grazing.The rush to exploit animals for their milk has seenothers added to the ranks of the milking machines.Camel milk is the latest fad to hit British stores. Mostis from the Middle East, where animal welfare maynot even meet basic UK standards. Photos from onecamel farm in the Netherlands (currently Europe’ssole dairy camel farm) appears to show animals thatare mostly housed, and in a climate that iscompletely alien to them (117).Concern has also been raised about the welfare ofwater buffalo used to produce milk for Mozzarella inItaly, with reports that very young males are sounvalued that many are just dumped by the roadsideto fend for themselves.To read about Viva!’s investigation of goat farming,Nanny State, see www.whitelies.org.uk/goats.The removal of kids shortly after birth isinherent part of the dairy goat industry32