Eyes on Animals would like to congratulate the managers of this cattle market, which has gone from a market with serious welfare problems in 2005 to one of the “best” we have inspected. Since our last visit in 2009, they have installed more water troughs and built individual pens for bulls. There was also no violent handling of the animals today. We did question why some children present at the market were allowed to use sticks on the animals, not being mature enough yet to really understand how and when to use them. There were not any “downer” cows. All animals were tied on correctly and had long enough ropes to lie down but not too long to risk entanglement. Rubber stoppers had been placed on a gate door to limit the noise it makes. The entire floor of the market is covered in straw, creating a non-slip surface and giving the animals some padding for their feet.
Nevertheless, some cows had full udders and were dripping milk. Because the man responsible for milking them at the market was sick and had not been replaced, the cows were left as such. We therefore hand-milked several in the hope of providing some relief.
