Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 12
1 of the strain on the cow. Now, if her calf is taken away,
2 as we have already discussed, and then ----
3
4 MR. MORRIS: Is there any welfare problem about that?
5 A. Well, by this time, of course, there will be the same
6 separation problems. There will be the same problems with
7 the calf. But we are considering this one animal now, the
8 cow, and she is then, after she has calved and as soon as
9 possible afterwards, she comes back on heat and estrous.
10
11 Q. How does she react to the calf being taken away?
12 A. They vary but, obviously, this is distressing. The
13 mooing and bellowing of cows when they are separated is an
14 unfortunate countryside sound if they are not kept inside.
15 I was going to come to the actual conditions in which they
16 are kept at different times of the year which is a welfare
17 matter, but they do show great distress.
18
19 Some are separated at a very young age, just a day or two
20 old. Some are kept on and a maternal bond is being formed
21 all this time. They are very maternal animals, cows, and
22 so they make a noise. There is the stress on the young
23 calf because if the young calf goes to market, there is a
24 farmers' adage which says: "The calf's worst enemy is
25 another calf". Certainly, if you mix them at market they
26 will transmit diseases from one to the other. So that is a
27 stress. There are a lot of antibiotics and so on applied
28 at that point and a number of diseases which arise within
29 calves because of that stress. So, those are all signs of
30 stressful practices.
31
32 Now, when -----
33
34 Q. Could I just ask you one question?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. When the mother cow is distressed from the calf being taken
38 away, how long does that distress last for or can it last
39 for?
40 A. It can last for several days, also -- you cannot always
41 tell -- the noises may go on for several days but, of
42 course, you still have some stress. You have the stress
43 that she is going to be put back into calf as soon as she
44 comes on heat again because in this system one tries to get
45 a calving index, as one says, of 365 days, one year. So
46 that she does not have much rest. I will contrast it for
47 you with what happens with, say, a ewe, what is empty, as
48 farmers say, for five or six months.
49
50 Q. That is sheep?
51 A. Yes, a ewe, yes, a female sheep. Perhaps I should take
52 it like farmers, they call them "ewes". But, you see, the
53 point about the dairy cow is that she is not empty for very
54 long. So, after she is back in calf, she goes into calf,
55 she can then be reinseminated about 60 days after and --
56 I am sorry, I have this muddled up -- she is milking all
57 the time to feed what would have been her calf, and she
58 goes into full lactation. Then about 60 days after that
59 she comes into heat. Heat can be detected and she is
60 reinseminated. So, for six or seven months of the year she
