For many people, dairy farming conjures up images of small herds of cows leisurely grazing on open pastures. Although scenes like this still exist in the United States, most milk is produced by cows raised in intensive production systems.¹ Farms with fewer than 200 cows are in sharp decline, while the number of very large operations, with 2,000-plus cows, more than doubled between 2000 and 2006; the largest have over 15,000 cows.²

Large operations have higher stocking densities and tend to confine their cows in barns or in drylot feedyards.² Some cows are housed indoors year-round,¹ and lactating cows are often kept restrained in tie stalls or stanchions.³ Organic farms are required to provide cows some access to pasture; however, it’s not uncommon for large organic dairies to purchase most of their feed and rely very little on pasture.⁴

Between 1940 and 2008, the average amount of milk produced per cow rose from 2 to 10 tons per year.⁵ Although genetic selection and feeding are used to increase production efficiency, cows do not adapt well to high milk yields or their high grain diets.⁶ Metabolic disorders are common, and millions of cows suffer from mastitis (a very painful infection of the udder), lameness, and infertility problems.^1,3,6

Most dairy calves are removed from their mothers immediately after birth.³ The males are mainly sold for veal or castrated and raised for beef.¹ Calves raised for “special-fed veal” are kept in individual stalls and slaughtered at about 16 to 18 weeks of age—for “bob veal,” they’re killed at 3 weeks or younger.⁷ The female calves are commonly subjected to tail docking, dehorning, and the removal of “extra” teats.¹ Until they’re weaned at 8 weeks of age, most female calves are fed colostrum, then a milk replacer or unsaleable waste milk.³ Each year hundreds of thousands of these female calves die between 48 hours and 8 weeks of age, mostly due to scours, diarrhea, and other digestive problems.³

Left: At this California drylot operation, cows are forced to stand in a mixture of storm water, mud, and manure (photo courtesy of East Bay Animal Advocates). Right: Male calves raised for veal are kept in individual stalls (photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary).

Although they don’t reach mature size until at least 4 years old, dairy cows first give birth at about 2 years of age and are usually bred again beginning at about 60 days after giving birth, to maintain a yearly schedule.¹ Each year, approximately one quarter of the cows who survive the farms are sent to slaughter, most often due to reproductive problems or mastitis.³ Cows can live more than 20 years, however they’re usually killed at about 5 years of age, after roughly 2.5 lactations.¹

The term “downer” refers to an animal who is too injured, weak, or sick to stand and walk. The exact number of downer cattle on U.S. farms or feedlots or sent to slaughter facilities is difficult to ascertain, but estimates approach 500,000 animals per year; most are dairy cows.⁸ Complications associated with calving and injuries from slipping and falling are leading causes of downer dairy cows.⁸

Downer dairy cow (photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary).

Evidence revealing widespread mistreatment of downer dairy cows hit the news in January 2008, when the Humane Society of the United States released footage from its undercover investigation of a California slaughter plant that supplied beef for the nation’s school lunch program:

In the video, workers are seen kicking cows, ramming them with the blades of a forklift, jabbing them in the eyes, applying painful electrical shocks and even torturing them with a hose and water in attempts to force sick or injured animals to walk to slaughter.…

Temple Grandin, a renowned expert on animal agriculture and professor at Colorado State University, called the images captured in the investigation “one of the worst animal abuse videos I have ever viewed.”

See HSUS reports and video, and Washington Post article.

In 2009, Mercy For Animals documented the conditions at a mega-dairy in New York State.

References

1. US EPA, Ag 101: Dairy Production, http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/printdairy.html, 9/11/07; retrieved 3/10/08.

2. USDA ERS, Economic Research Report No. 47, 9/07.

3. USDA APHIS VS, Dairy 2007, Part I: Reference of Dairy Cattle Health and Management Practices in the United States, 10/07.

4. USDA ERS, Amber Waves, 2007; 5(4): 30–5.

5. USDA NASS, Quick Stats: Agricultural Statistics Data Base, http://www.nass.usda.gov/QuickStats; retrieved 5/11/09.

6. D.M. Broom, “Effects of dairy cattle breeding and production methods on animal welfare,” 2001; in Proc. 21 World Buiatrics Congress, 1–7 (Uruguay: World Association for Buiatrics).

7. USDA FSIS, Fact Sheets: Veal from Farm to Table, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Veal_from_Farm_to_Table/index.asp, 10/17/06; retrieved 3/10/08.

8. JAVMA, 2007; 231(2): 227–34.