Day 291 - 31 Oct 96 - Page 22
1 the short life-span of cows reared for the dairy industry
2 and the meat industry. On page 12, he referred to the
3 distress caused to the cows and calves when they were being
4 separated. When Mr. Morris asked him about how the cow
5 reacted to the calf being taken away, he said, "They vary,
6 but obviously this is distressing. The mooing and
7 bellowing of cows and calves when they are separated is an
8 unfortunate countryside sound if they are not kept inside.
9 Some are separated at a very young age, just a day or two
10 old." He said that cows were very maternal animals and
11 that there was stress on the calf as well. "The distress
12 from the mother cow could last for several days."
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You need not go through it, as I said more
15 than once. Just give me the reference, if you want to do
16 that, and say what the topic is. For instance, my note is,
17 'Day 113, page 12, distress to cows and calves and being
18 separated'. In fact, I have gone on a bit, because that is
19 all you really need to say. Then I can look at Dr. Long
20 myself.
21
22 MS. STEEL: I am trying to keep it short. Yes. He related on
23 page 16 about the output from the modern British dairy cow
24 was about 5,500 litres a year. He said that was about
25 twice what it would have been just after World War Two. He
26 said that there were welfare implications about the
27 increased amount of milk that they are producing.
28
29 Just with reference to that point, to make the comparison,
30 on day 113, page 18 he said that a sucker cow would produce
31 about three litres of milk for a calf, which is what the
32 calf needs, compared with a dairy cow producing milk for
33 humans -- well, producing milk for the calves but the
34 humans are taking it all -- and that that dairy cow would
35 be yielding up to 30 litres, ten times as much as it would
36 be in nature. The consequences of this, or one of the
37 consequences, and a frequent consequence, was mastitis and
38 Dr. Long said that there are about 35 cases of mastitis for
39 every 100 cows in a British herd. It is a very prevalent
40 disease, it is what is called by vets and others 'a
41 production disease'. In other words, a disease brought on
42 by the excessive pressure of production or
43 over-production.
44
45 He said it is a very painful disease. He referred to the
46 fact that because of the amount of the milk that they are
47 having to produce there is an enormous strain on the udder,
48 which means that it may drop, and it means that that would
49 mean that the cow could not walk properly and therefore may
50 become lame as a result of not being able to walk
51 properly.
52
53 Just a point on the matter which I raised this morning
54 about birds continuing to lay eggs and can carry on eating
55 because they are supposedly happy. Or the argument being
56 that they do that because they are happy -- or it shows
57 that they are happy, the fact that they are doing it. Dr.
58 Long said on day 113, page 15 -- in terms of the cow
59 continuing to give milk and whether or not the fact that
60 she continued to give milk meant that everything was OK --
