Discarded Boy Calves

We take her milk with a sense of entitlement -- and discard her calf... In South Africa, some 600 000 dairy cows produce around 3-billion litres of milk for our consumption annually.

But now, at last, Compassion in World Farming (South Africa) has found a helping hand in dairy veterinarian Dr Nico Schutte.

In a meeting with Compassion on 5 February 2012, Dr Schutte, as representative for the Milk Producers' Organistion (MPO), agreed that the fate of boy calves needs urgent attention. He explained that calves are born without any antibodies at all which means they have no resistance to disease. "That is why it is crucial that the calves receive 2 litres of colostrum within the first six hours of life. Collecting colostrum from the older cows in the herd, provides the best antibodies for the calves because older cows will have been exposed to more diseases than younger cows and therefore have more antibodies to pass on to the calves through colostrum."

Said Dr Schutte: "A fault in the system is that calves can fall into the hands of people who know too little about calf rearing.  The MPO, together with the Institute for Dairy Technology could expand courses in calf-rearing. This would mean that people intending to buy calves would first have to present certified proof that they have attended a calf-rearing course. I am willing to take this further and slowly, slowly let's make it happen."

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