Wild cow herds are regulated by predators, but also by themselves. Like with most herd animals, males are either killed or exiled once they reach puberty.
On my parents farm we leave the calves with their mother for a day and then move the calves to their own enclosure nearby. If I had to guess, I’d say that the social contact with the other calves significantly reduces stress for the calves and the direct line of sight helps the mothers cope. But it really depends on the individual cow how well they take it.
As far as I’m aware organic farms often keep their cows for roundabout one decade given that their health allows it. Upper teens are rare because older cows are a lot more prone to develop serious health issues and most of the time it’s more humane to slaughter a cow with a torn ligament than watching her die painfully from gas buildup.
Thanks. How do you proceed with the calves after they are separated? Are they sold, killed, kept, etc? Does what happens to them depend on a calves sex?
Most male calves are sold into organic meat farms once they reach 6 months. As far as I know they’re raised further till they’re fully grown at around two years old. But I’m no expert on this. From time to time we keep one for the herd.
Female calves are either sold to other organic dairy farms or we keep them and raise them ourselves. No calf is killed except for medical emergencies.
Unfortunatly, this confirms what i suspected. Male cows, at the very least, are a byproduct of organic milk production. So consuming it still is contributing to animals being killed, albeit more indirectly.
For me, that is the red line i wouldn’t want to cross.
I don’t see how those male calves live a life in dignity, but i respect that your line is different from mine. Thanks again for giving me a glimpse into the industry, that was very informative.
As I said, I’m vegetarian mostly for environmental reasons and I’m okay with killing animals as long as they’re allowed to live a dignified life and the killing is done in a humane way. Both of these are ensured by the EU-BIO regulations and even more so by the Bioland, Naturland and Demeter labels.
Again, for me a dignified life includes, access to fresh pastures, a herd and enough room and shelter for the animals. Meat cattle get all of those in organic farms and that’s good enough for me.
Wild cow herds are regulated by predators, but also by themselves. Like with most herd animals, males are either killed or exiled once they reach puberty.
On my parents farm we leave the calves with their mother for a day and then move the calves to their own enclosure nearby. If I had to guess, I’d say that the social contact with the other calves significantly reduces stress for the calves and the direct line of sight helps the mothers cope. But it really depends on the individual cow how well they take it.
As far as I’m aware organic farms often keep their cows for roundabout one decade given that their health allows it. Upper teens are rare because older cows are a lot more prone to develop serious health issues and most of the time it’s more humane to slaughter a cow with a torn ligament than watching her die painfully from gas buildup.
Thanks. How do you proceed with the calves after they are separated? Are they sold, killed, kept, etc? Does what happens to them depend on a calves sex?
Most male calves are sold into organic meat farms once they reach 6 months. As far as I know they’re raised further till they’re fully grown at around two years old. But I’m no expert on this. From time to time we keep one for the herd.
Female calves are either sold to other organic dairy farms or we keep them and raise them ourselves. No calf is killed except for medical emergencies.
Once more, thanks.
Unfortunatly, this confirms what i suspected. Male cows, at the very least, are a byproduct of organic milk production. So consuming it still is contributing to animals being killed, albeit more indirectly.
For me, that is the red line i wouldn’t want to cross.
I don’t see how those male calves live a life in dignity, but i respect that your line is different from mine. Thanks again for giving me a glimpse into the industry, that was very informative.
As I said, I’m vegetarian mostly for environmental reasons and I’m okay with killing animals as long as they’re allowed to live a dignified life and the killing is done in a humane way. Both of these are ensured by the EU-BIO regulations and even more so by the Bioland, Naturland and Demeter labels.
Again, for me a dignified life includes, access to fresh pastures, a herd and enough room and shelter for the animals. Meat cattle get all of those in organic farms and that’s good enough for me.