Are calves treated differently on organic farms?
Organic calves have to be kept in pens where they can interact with other calves and groom each other. On non-organic farms calves can be kept in separate pens, which is unnatural for them and believed to cause stress to the rest of the herd. Organic calves are usually reared on natural cow’s milk – their mother’s or a nurse cow’s. On non-organic farms calves can be quickly separated from their mothers and fed re-constituted milk. After weaning, the calves are kept together in social groups. Herd animals need social contact and find it very distressing to be alone. The female calves (heifers) will usually be kept and added to the dairy herd. Only one bull can run with a herd of cows, however, so some of the male calves may be raised for organic beef. This means they will mostly be out at grass and have a good quality of life, even if it is quite short – they are usually slaughtered at around 20 months. They are subject to strict regulations which govern how they are transported and sol
Organic calves have to be kept in pens where they can interact with other calves and groom each other. On non-organic farms calves can be kept in separate pens, which is unnatural for them and believed to cause stress to the rest of the herd. Organic calves are usually reared on natural cow’s milk – their mother’s or a nurse cow’s. On non-organic farms calves can be quickly separated from their mothers and fed re-constituted milk. After weaning, the calves are kept together in social groups. Herd animals need social contact and find it very distressing to be alone. The female calves (heifers) will usually be kept and added to the dairy herd. Only one bull can run with a herd of cows, however, so some of the male calves may be raised for organic beef. This means they will mostly be out at grass and have a good quality of life, even if it is quite short – they are usually slaughtered at around 20 months. They are subject to strict regulations which govern how they are transported and sol
