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‘Got milk?’ – If only dairy calves could choose
For most dairy calves, life isn’t great. They get separated from their mums soon
after their first feed of colostrum, and if they don’t want to go hungry, they better
get used to the rubber teats attached to a dispenser.

‘Baby formula’ for calves is called ‘milk replacer’. In a recent issue, the
magazine Farmers Weekly reported the results of a study that looked at the
difference in quality between powder and liquid concentrate replacers.
Researchers compared two groups of calves which were fed either whey powder
or concentrate. Both are made from whole milk, but concentrate replacers tend to
have a much higher protein content and that makes a big difference. Not only
were the calves raised on concentrate heavier at the time of weaning, they
stayed ahead of their powder raised peers throughout their lives, getting
pregnant earlier, and producing more milk on average per day and throughout
their lifetime. Why? Concentrate “retains many of the naturally occurring
bioactive components that are found in the whey fraction of whole milk and
colostrum. (…) (They) “are known to help support the health, and influence the
health and development, of young calves”, researcher Jessica Cooke told
Farmers Weekly *1.

But how about leaving calves with their mums?
The first cow-calf dairy I visited was in southern Germany, near Lake Constance.
Farmer Mechthild Knösel keeps a herd of ‘Schweizer original Braunvieh’, a
sturdy dual-purpose breed originating from Switzerland. ‘Dual purpose’ refers to
the fact that the animals can be reared for meat or become dairy cows. That’s
very different from pure bred dairy breeds such as Holsteins: male Holstein
calves hardly put on any meat and are mostly slaughtered young, their meat
being sold as veal.

When she trained as a farmer, Knösel dreaded having to listen to newly
separated cows and calves calling out to each other for hours on end. She
decided to end that practice on her farm and instead raises the calves with their
mums.

Two weeks before their due date, the pregnant cows join the mother and calf
herd. In summer, the cows give birth on pasture, in winter they are moved to a
spacious calving box with deep straw bedding in the barn. All new mums stay
there with their calves for at least two days until they have properly bonded. Only
then will they return to the mother and calf herd. The calves stay with their mums
for three months and are allowed to drink as often and as much as they like.

Play time for mums and calves
Twice a day, cows and calves return to the barn. While the cows are being
milked, the group of calves waits in a special pen with deep straw bedding.
After 12 weeks the calves naturally spend most of their time with their peers.
They remain in the ‘kindergarden’ area of the barn and enjoy time with their
mums when they come in for milking. In the barn it takes a few minutes for
mums and calves to find each other. Some calves greet their mums and enjoy
the physical contact, others can’t wait to start suckling. While some cows allow
only their own calf to drink and kick others away, several cows have three or four
calves crowding around their udder. The cows decide how much time they want
to spend with their calves, after about ten minutes the first ones begin to walk off
to the milking parlour.

Animal friendly and profitable
With six stands, the milking parlour is relatively small, the cows have to wait a
while until the last one leaves the stand, and the herd can return to the pasture.
The milk is not processed but sold as raw milk, mostly direct to consumers
through a farm shop. The milk yield per cow is 5,000l/p.a., and each calf drinks
about 1,500l. That is quite a lot, says Knösel, but she finds that the calves are
much healthier and grow into very healthy animals, she can’t remember when
she last had to call out the vet because an animal was sick.

To produce 10,000 litres of milk per year or more takes an incredible toll on the
body of a dairy cow. Even if cows are given additional feed concentrates they
can’t eat enough to make up for the energy their bodies have to spend on milk
production. Most of them will have only one or two calves before they are literally
worn out and sent to the abattoir for slaughter. Some of the meat goes into
burger patties, but most of it will just become pet food.

Things are very different on Knösel’s farm. The cows can live to an age of 14 to
16 years and still be productive; at present, the oldest cow is 14 years old. When
they finally retire they will spend spend six months grazing with the herd of
young animals before they are finally slaughtered. Such older animals will have
higher intramuscular fat levels which adds taste. Meat from grass-fed animals
tastes a different from maize fed animals, says Knösel, the animals walk all day
long, and it takes a lot longer for them to reach their slaughter weight. And the
meat from old dairy cows is sought after by chefs for its tenderness and taste.
Milk, cheese and other dairy products from cow-calf dairies are becoming
increasingly popular and they are available in the UK too.

If you want to find out
more go to: www.cowcalfdairies.co.uk

*1 Farmers Weekly, 2nd August, page 34ff

Photo copyright: @M.Kunz

Marianne Landzettel is a journalist writing and blogging about food, farming and agricultural policies in the UK, the US, continental Europe and South Asia. She worked for the BBC World Service and German Public Radio for close to 30 years. Follow her on X at @M_Landzettel and m.landzettel on Instagram

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