Why I care about the back end of a dairy cow
By Gina Spadafori
September 11, 2009
I have a friend who collects cows. Little, ceramic, black and white cows. One time she and I were driving somewhere and went by a dairy.
“I love cows!” she says. “Aren’t they cute?”
Imagine my surprise when I recently mentioned that since she loves cows, she might, as a California resident, want to call the Governor and encourage him to sign S.B. 135, which bans dairies from docking the tails of dairy cows — a procedure done without any concern for the pain of the animals and without benefit to their value as “production units.”
She said, “Oh, how sad! But it must be necessary or they wouldn’t do it.”
Um, no.
Here’s what the AVMA says about the practice:
The AVMA opposes routine tail docking of cattle. Current scientific literature indicates that routine tail docking provides no benefit to the animal, and that tail docking can lead to distress during fly seasons. When medically necessary, amputation of tails must be performed by a licensed veterinarian.
Bailey Norwood, a professor of agricultural economics of Oklahoma State , writes:
The California legislature recently passed a bill to ban the docking of dairy cattle tails. I was surprised when I read that over 80% of dairy farms in a study used tail docking, as I had worked on two dairies when I was young and was completely unaware that anyone did this.
A few months ago I spent time trying to find out why people were docking tails, and I could not identify any reason other than the nuisance of dealing with tails when milking. I could not find any health reason for doing so.
The only people who seem to have a problem with this bill are those who automatically oppose anything supported by the Humane Society of the United States, and those who believe animals on industrial farms aren’t anything more than machinery, and as an “owned object” may be treated in any way that makes the food they produce as inexpensivee as possible, no matter the cost to the animals, the environment and the quality and safety of the food produced.
I disagree. I think the true costs of factory-farmed food is never factored in, which means I support sweeping changes to the practice of industrial agriculture.
But this isn’t even the case here. There’s NO REASON why dairy cows can’t keep their tails, so let’s at least let them have that. Not only should they not be subjected to their tails removed without pain-management, but also they need their tails to keep themselves comfortable.
If you “love cows” — even if only in a cute ceramic form — have a heart. Ask the Governor to sign SB 135 —email or call (916-445-2841) today.
I don’t live in CA, but I wrote - how abhorrent, positively medieval!!! I am no fan of the HSUS, but on this issue I am on the cow’s side and so are they…
Comment by Amanda — September 11, 2009 @ 8:04 am
I’ve never milked a cow but how are the tails a “nuisance” when milking?
If it’s inconvenient to have to kneel down to get to the udder, maybe we could saw those off and sew them back on someplace more easily accessible.
Comment by YesBiscuit! — September 11, 2009 @ 8:48 am
They enjoy swishing you in the face sometimes. And their tail aren’t exactly clean. But that’s certainly no reason to cut off their tails for goodness sake…or none of my co-workers would have a voicebox. :O)
Comment by Original Lori — September 11, 2009 @ 9:09 am
YB … you are so funny. But I guess you’d have to have a sense of humor to survive life in South Carolina right now!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 11, 2009 @ 9:45 am
i don’t live in california and this is the first i’ve heard of this! All the dairy cows i know have their tails intact…
Comment by Sarah — September 11, 2009 @ 10:33 am
Actually, my brother-in-laws are the sons of a dairy farmer, and yes, a cow poopy tail can whap you a good one, especially if you’re new at that whole milking thing and you don’t treat their boobies with respect. (Those machines suck HARD and need to be installed properly!)
But here’s the thing, standard protocol at their dairy farm is to wash the cow’s udders, AND TAIL if necessary, prior to milking.
My cow, a dexter, not much of a milker, has a lovely tail that almost drags on the ground. I wash, or at least dry-groom it regularly. It’s a wonderful tool and they deserve to have them.
I was upset to see that the pig farmer docked the tails on my feeder pigs. They were just wee babes and I thought I could get them pre-docking…but no, torture for livestock starts really early.
Comment by LynnO — September 11, 2009 @ 10:40 am
They don’t ‘saw’ the tails off. The majority are banded like sheep. Some are cut with a docking iron (cauterizes and cuts simultaneously). The procedure is done to heifer calves at weaning or to cows after they have their first calf. The practice was thought to improve cleanliness and udder health (mastitis prevention). This has been refuted by research but the practice continues. My biggest concern about it is much like that of draft horses that have their tails docked - fly control.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/n.....n3tuck.htm
Comment by Sarah B. — September 11, 2009 @ 11:13 am
Duly noted and changed. The procedure still hurts and has no point.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 11, 2009 @ 11:22 am
Yeah it’s all snickers and giggles in SC these days.
Out of interest, I found some additional info which was helpful for me, maybe for some of the other readers too:
“United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands have already outlawed the practice.”
http://www.allbusiness.com/gov.....570-1.html
“Banding with rubber calf castrating bands was the method of choice on 92.5% of the dairies where cows had docked tails. The remaining dairies (7.5%) cut the tails off. Tree pruners were used to cut tails of adult cows on 2.7% of the dairies. Three producers cut tails on d 1 or 2, one producer at 2 mo, and 3 producers cut tails off before calving. Interviews indicated that pruning shears or tree pruners were the most common methods. Pain relief was not administered on any dairy after tail-docking.”
http://www.grandin.com/referen.....tices.html
Comment by YesBiscuit! — September 11, 2009 @ 12:18 pm
We have a cow at the sanctuary where I work who was tail-docked at a dairy farm. She has a horrendous time dealing with flies, just awful.
It’s not a common practice in the United States (only about 15% of ENTIRE herds are tail docked) but between 50-80% of dairy herdsmen admit to tail docking some of their cows. It’s a lot more common in Australia, where it originated.
It’s a useless, cruel practice that I’m glad has passed through both the Assembly & Senate with bi-partisan support. Even though the Governor made some silly cracks about this very basic law, we certainly hope he signs it.
Comment by Rinalia — September 11, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
According to the California Farm Bureau Federation:
- California Farm Bureau Federation SUPPORTS SB 135
- California Cattlemen’s Association SUPPORTS SB 135
- Western United Dairymen is neutral on SB 135
The California Farm Bureau Federation is not aware of any groups opposing SB 135. There was a minor amendment to the bill that these groups had requested, which they got.
Comment by LauraS — September 11, 2009 @ 2:28 pm
Thanks, Laura. Obviously a lot of legislative issues have people who deal with animals divided, but this doesn’t seem to be one of those issues.
Which makes me wonder: Why does the dairy need to have a law to stop this practice? Why didn’t they just clean up their own act?
:::sigh:::
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 11, 2009 @ 2:54 pm
People who think that docking a cows tail is cruel will also welcome cow poop in there milk. Or insecticide in there soymilk.
Comment by skippy — September 13, 2009 @ 2:28 pm
Yes, well, thank you for your grammar-challenged contribution to the debate. I guess you missed the peer-reviewed studies showing no benefit to the procedure, or the fact that farm bureaus and the AVMA (neither exactly known for being against factory farming) are opposed to tail docking.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 13, 2009 @ 3:40 pm
How to get our bodies to accept viruses, bacteria, feces, antibiotics, etc. from large farm raised animals is now the question.
So many people in our U.S. population are exposed to said ingredients in their meat and poultry.
Oh, well, the strong shall survive. :^)
Comment by Colorado Transplant — September 13, 2009 @ 3:58 pm