Waitrose to ban factory farmed cows from producing milk for its supermarkets

Written by Sean Poulter for the Daily Mail

• Waitrose cows will be guaranteed at least 100 days grazing outside a year
• Move comes amid rise of controversial ‘zero grazing’ policy of mega dairies
• A director at the supermarket chain says it will produce ‘great quality milk’

Cows will be guaranteed at least 100 days grazing outside a year on farms supplying Waitrose in a backlash against dairy factory farms.

The move comes in response to concerns from animal welfare groups about the rise of mega dairies which apply controversial ‘zero grazing’.

Cows on these milk factory units spend their entire productive lives‎ inside, often being milked by machine.

They never enjoy wandering around a field, eating pasture, and are raised mostly on a diet of GM soya and corn. Each cow will produce the equivalent of 53 pints of milk a day.

The resulting strain means they will generally have a useful life of just three to four milk cycles before slaughter.

Such is the pressure put on the bodies of these animals, they are prone to foot and leg problems plus udder infections, such as mastitis.

Now Waitrose says dairy cows producing its conventional milk will spend at least 100 days a year outside grazing in fields.

Waitrose is already one of the only supermarkets to give its dairy cows access to pasture during the grazing season in the summer months.

The milk is produced exclusively for Waitrose by a pool of 50 dairy farms in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Somerset and Devon.

The chief executive of Compassion in World Farming, Philip Lymbery, said: ‘I think that most consumers presume that all dairy cows are allowed out on pasture.

Sadly, this simply isn’t the case.

‘In terms of dairy cow welfare, Waitrose delivers what its customers expect and what the cows need to live a happier, healthier life.’

Heather Jenkins, Waitrose’s director of agriculture, said: ‘We’ve always required our farmers to graze their dairy herds outside but this move puts in place a minimum benchmark of at least 100 days a year.

‘Getting dairy cows outside and on grass pasture whenever possible not only produces great quality milk but is a key aspect of good animal welfare, something we believe is of the utmost importance.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3429130/Waitrose-ban-factory-farmed-cows-producing-milk-supermarkets-targets-animal-welfare.html#ixzz3z78IakLK
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