Organic dairy farming today

Organic dairy farming makes up approximately three percent of British dairy, with around 60,000 organic dairy cows in herds throughout the UK.

On organic dairy farms, cows are not given the same concentrated feed as many cows on non-organic farms, so they tend to have a lower milk yield. The animals are outside in warmer months, and the routine use of antibiotics and wormers is prohibited. However, the ‘organic farm’ is smoke and mirrors. Cows on supposedly ‘high welfare’ farms face heartache, misery and suffering, just as they do on intensive farms. Cows within the dairy industry, both organic and intensive, suffer their entire lives. From the moment they are born, they are treated like commodities, or machines, and often develop painful medical conditions.

They also suffer psychologically — torn apart from their families and forced to endure the heavy toll of constant pregnancy and childbirth. Dairy cows are artificially impregnated every year, and their calves are taken from them soon after birth.

Organic dairy farming exploits grieving mothers and kills babies.

Consumers are led to believe, thanks to clever milk packaging, that cows are outside grazing all year round. In reality, cows are confined to sheds in winter months and often spend long hours each day being milked.

Inside the organic dairy

On organic farms, calves are often taken from their mothers at a later age than on intensive dairies.

Yet as their bond grows, and the longer the calf is with their mother, the harder their separation is likely to be. Even before the maternal bond has been fully established, scenes of tiny calves separated from their mothers are already heartbreaking to watch.

Animal Justice Project filmed a baby calf just three days old crying for his mother for over 39 hours. This is the heart-wrenching side of organic dairy that the industry does not want the public to see: cows bellow and frantically search for their offspring; calves, who are dragged away from their mothers with rope around their necks — often never to see them again — cry endlessly.

Cruelty is standard practice on dairy farms.

In 2018, an undercover investigation revealed calves being force-fed colostrum on an organic dairy farm, which was certified by the Soil Association and RSPCA Assured, that supplies Waitrose.

A ’high welfare’ farm supplying milk to M&S has been filmed housing calves aged up to six months old in tiny hutches. This is despite animal welfare laws banning solitary housing for calves beyond eight weeks old. Exercise and social interaction is vital for calves. You can imagine the frustration and suffering of these calves over months — as they are barely even able to fully get into the hutches. More recently, Animal Justice Project also filmed younger, newly separated calves on an organic dairy forced into tiny individual pens before some were sent to a dealer, then to the slaughterhouse.

The labelling on organic milk products leaves shoppers with the impression that organic means outside, when in fact animals on typical organic farms often spend much of their time confined to crowded sheds or mud-filled pens, just as animals on conventional intensive farms do. Cows often have to line up for hours each day, sometimes more than once, to enter the milking parlour. They don’t run for joy, they are pushed, shoved, kicked, slapped … for lame cows, standing for hours on hard concrete can be excruciating.

Animals on organic farms often endure the same cruel mutilations — such as disbudding and castration.

Even though anaesthetic is required by law, calves struggle as they are dehorned and the pain afterwards can be chronic.

Cows, like all farmed animals, are brutally killed at a very young age compared to their natural lifespan. After a few years of a constant cycle of pregnancy and lactation, a cow’s milk production declines. Cows in the dairy industry face the same fate as those in the meat industry. Animal Justice Project has filmed the sad state of cows deemed no longer useful, limping to their deaths in the abattoir. We have also filmed the hoisting up of ‘downer’ dairy cows, injured from the farm, and deemed worthless. All dairy cows end up at the slaughterhouse for meat. Just like those reared for beef.

It doesn’t matter whether cows are housed inside or out, this industry is built on exploitation and killing. By purchasing dairy milk and cheese products, you are directly funding the cruelty and exploitation of these amazing animals who deserve so much better.