Vaches Laitières

For The Co-operative, improving animal welfare is not simply a short-term marketing platform, but part of a long-term commitment to a responsible retailing agenda

OMSCo works with their organic dairy farm members to achieve high standards of health and welfare in farming systems based on grazing grass and clover.

Compassion’s Good Dairy Award celebrates companies that are using or committing to using higher welfare dairy systems for cows and calves. The criteria for the award include an active grazing policy and an improvement programme for key welfare indicators for dairy cows; whilst calves must be reared in higher welfare systems with limited transport times.

OMSCo is a cooperative of organic dairy farmers formed in 1994. They now collect from 450 farmers that produce three-quarters of the UK’s organic milk. OMSCo have a long-term supply agreement with Yeo Valley and their milk also goes into supermarkets and independent shops in a wide range of dairy products. Organic farmers follow comprehensive legal and Assurance Scheme standards that are checked by independent inspectors.

Compassion supports the commitment of organic dairy farmers that allow cows to be outside, free to graze organic grass and clover meadows for as much of the year as possible. During the winter, when the pasture stops growing, the cows are kept in covered yards and cubicles with plenty of space to move and comfortable bedding. The majority of the organic cows’ feed is grass and clover – they are not pushed for maximum yield with high levels of concentrate feed, so they live longer, healthier lives.

Calves on OMSCo farms are kept in groups with bedding throughout life to allow social interaction and comfort. They have a good supply of colostrum and are fed whole milk for at least four weeks, to ensure a healthy start to life. Transport times are kept to a minimum and their organic calves are not exported.

Compassion was delighted to award OMSCo with a Good Dairy Award for their commitment to dairy cow welfare and shares the goal of all OMSCo organic dairy farmers: for comfortable, contented and healthy cows.

It is great that Compassion has recognised the work of OMSCo with the Good Dairy Award. It shows that our farmers are doing right by our cows and confirms the value of our work in achieving high standards of cow health and welfare.

Mike Cottrell, OMSCo farmer

Visit the OMSCo website for more information about organic dairy cow welfare.

Through our Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards programme, we engage and reward market leading food companies for their policies and commitments to supply higher welfare and sustainable food.

As part of our Good Dairy Award criteria, all dairy calves must be reared in high welfare systems, where they are raised in social groups, with adequate bedding and access to fibre daily. Transport times should be limited to a maximum of 8 hours and export from the UK is not permitted.

Male dairy calves are often considered a waste product as they cannot produce milk and are deemed unsuitable for beef production. Compassion encourages schemes that ensure that these often ‘unwanted’ calves are reared in high welfare systems for the veal and beef market.

In June 2006, Compassion and the RSPCA convened the Beyond Calf Exports Stakeholders Forum. Its objective was to stimulate economically sustainable supply chains for high welfare veal and beef from the UK dairy industry. Due to the Forum’s widespread commitment from leading industry stakeholders, today we are seeing an increase in the number of male dairy calves reared in the UK with members encouraging a secure market for beef and veal from the dairy industry.

In 2011, Compassion was delighted to award Brookfield Farm with our Good Calf Commendation. The Brookfield Farm brand is a joint venture between DB Foods and Tarrant Valley Livestock. They have made a significant commitment to farming sustainability and animal welfare by purchasing unwanted dairy calves from local farms and raising them for veal and beef. By working in partnership, they have developed an economic and sustainable production system where they can share the costs and profits of rearing their calves in high welfare systems.

Winning the Good Calf Commendation is something we are immensely proud of and is testament to the level of work and investment behind our high-welfare veal and beef-rearing operation. Recognition from Compassion is very important to use and is invaluable in helping our model to grow and expand.

David Tory, Tarrant Valley Livestock, a Brookfield Farm producer