Milked to Starvation

Cambridge University has just published a report, commissioned by the European Union, that say that our current methods of milk production means that we are “Milking cows to Starvation”

The problem is that we have developed breeds of cows, Holstein, that will produce one hundred pints (sixty litres) of milk per day. Even with systems that feed the cattle enriched grain based fodder, the cow has only so many hours per day it can feed. Add to this the evolutionary mechanism that means that even if a mammal is malnourished then she will still produce milk to ensure the survival of the next generation. So even though there is no calf to feed the cow will keep producing milk even at the detriment of her health. Thus the cows are converting their own fat and mussel to produce the milk that it has been breed to produce.

It was not always this way, as traditional breeds will produce forty five pints (twenty five litres) per cow. While this increase in production has enabled us humans to have cheap milk and dairy products, it is this excessive production that has caused much of the financial problems that dairy farmers face today.

While that may seem to be a paradox, this excessive production per cow has created a cycle where cheap milk (farm gate price) leads to farmers seeking greater production, more milk per lactation, that leads to lower prices at the farm gate.

While to a bean counter (an accountant), having a cow that produces twice as much milk will look to be the better option, traditional dairy breeds could be grass fed. While there is an initial cost to reseeding a field to grass, when well managed there are few additional costs and dairy production can be the “cash cow” (bad pun intended) that it always was. While the majority of milk production has converted to the high yield Holstein, traditional grass fed dairy has continued and thrives. the high yield Holstein intensive production relies upon grains to feed the cows. Therefore the farmer had to have more than twice the land to feed these milk machines.

But of course the farmers could always buy in the grain. That was fine when the cost of grain was cheap, and transport costs were lower. The intensive methods combined with the Holstein Breed, did generate cash most years, but it was only the traditional grass feed system that generated a profit. As simply any fluctuation in the price of grains or transport costs, quickly wiped out any profit, all this while the grass fed beasts chewed the cud.

Also as the Holstein breed is a large animal, nearly six feet tall, it needs to eat a large amount of food just to maintain condition. Therefore each lactation, even in the best cared for herd, takes its toll on the health of the beast. This is why the Holstein suffers from infertility problems and why after even two or three lactations, the animal is no longer any use for milk production. In traditional grass systems, the cows have a useful life of ten years or more.

Just thinking about the economics of the two systems, as these cows cost two and half to three thousand pounds each, having a cow that produces milk for nine or ten years is a better return on capital than one that will only produce milk for two or three years. Even at twice the yield the economics of the intensive system just does not make sense. While farmers are business people too, they are not specialists at financial planning. Therefore when the accountants who advise the farmers see the increased cash flow of the intensive system, we have the situation where the living creatures that the farmers rely upon are suffering as a result of the banks and economic advice the farmers receive.

There are other environmental reasons why the intensive system of milk production is unwise to say the least, but these factors are not the issue here. The problem here in Britain, and in Europe, is that we have animals suffering as a direct result of our major method of milk production. There will be some people that don't care and just want the cheap food. The difficulty is that with the decreased fertility of the system, remembering that to produce milk a cow has to have a calf, and the crazy economics of a system that is reliant on cheap grain and cheap oil and the sustainability of the dairy industry is set for a major failure.

Additionally, with the traditional grass fed system, the male calf's can be grow on for Beef or Pink Veal, the Holstein is just the wrong shape and mussel pattern so are slaughtered at birth and become a waste product.

This is not just an animal welfare issue, as important as that is, other scientific studies have shown that milk and dairy from grass fed cattle produces less cholesterol and has greater amounts of vitamins and minerals, thus is far more healthy. Therefore it becomes an issue about the quality of our food rather than the quantity and means of production that are environmentally sustainable.

Post Script: While it is obvious to most of my readers that a cow has to give birth before it can produce milk, there are many people who just do not know that. While I can understand some children not knowing this, here in Britain even some young adults do not know that milk comes from cows. It just shows we have the best education system money can buy.