Milking the cow: the fate of Canadian cull dairy cows
Report
Our new report sheds light on the often-overlooked animal welfare issues faced by cull dairy cows in Canada, from painful health conditions to long-distance transport and neglect. It offers key recommendations to improve their welfare and calls for a multi-stakeholder approach to address the systemic failures that perpetuate animal suffering.
World Animal Protection’s latest report, Milking the cow: the fate of Canadian cull dairy cows, highlights poor welfare and suffering often experienced by cull dairy cows.
The neglected welfare of cull dairy cows
Cull dairy cows are animals who are removed from the milking herd and sent to slaughter due to health or reproductive problems, or reduced milk production. But what happens to them before they reach their tragic end is a sad and overlooked reality.
Many cull dairy cows suffer from painful health conditions and injuries that compromise their welfare, such as lameness, general sickness, mastitis, and udder or teat injuries. And even though farmers are supposed to assess animals for fitness for transport before shipping, many cows are still sent to slaughter in a compromised condition.
Inspection reports from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency reveal that a shocking 24% of vehicles inspected contain cull dairy cows with welfare concerns, including those who are downed, lame, and emaciated. These animals are typically sent to auctions to be sold before being shipped long distances to slaughter, sometimes enduring lengthy journeys to slaughter plants in the United States.
At these auctions, cull dairy cows may languish for days with little or no food, water, or milking. This can lead to painful udder engorgement, making an already difficult situation even worse.
Transport is a stressful time for all farm animals, but cull dairy cows are particularly vulnerable. Their welfare often deteriorates from the time they leave the farm to the time they reach the slaughter plant, which can be as much as 7-10 days in some cases. Researchers at the University of British Columbia found that, on average, cows spend 82 hours, or about 3.5 days, in the system before being slaughtered.
For these fragile animals, this is a long and grueling journey with little intervention or treatment taking place. It's time to shine a light on the neglected welfare of cull dairy cows and work towards better treatment for these vulnerable animals.
The industry, producers, processors, government, and buyers – the system is failing cull dairy cows.