“Giving Milk a Good Shake- looking at better ways of producing dairy” is the new report that we released today. It identifies the current problems Eyes on Animals inspectors observed during our visits of the dairy industry, with a specific focus on the Netherlands. It covers life on the farm, the fate of the calves, cull cows being sold at markets, long-distance transport of young calves and slaughter. It also covers the legislation and the criteria for special milk labels like Biological, Demeter and Weidemelk. But the highlight of this report is that it shows that better options are available and some dairy farmers have already switched over to best-practices. Here not only are the animals in better shape, but the farmers are happy with their choice.
Why are these farmers not being better supported and how can we, as consumers, support them? Eyes on Animals concludes that there is a need for either a new label that allows these farmers to stand out from the rest, or that current labelling needs to spread out its criteria to cover important welfare aspects like keeping the calves with the cows.
Read a short summary of the report on dairy cattle industry in the Netherlands in Dutch.
Read the entire report ‘Giving Milk a Good Shake’ in English.
Watch Dutch consumer TV show TROS RADAR about this report.