Organic milk rant [Matthew's Journal]

I am, in general, in favour of organic produce - the impact on the environment is almost universally positive, and organic eggs and meat generally involve higher animal welfare standards.

Organic milk, on the other hand, I consider to be a bad thing.

Firstly, it isn't any better for the cows. The main problems welfare-wise of dairy cows are due to the gross distortion of their physiology that we have perpetrated to produce such high milk yields. Organic milk doesn't do anything to address this.

Secondly, Not using antibiotics in mastitits cases and using homeopathic treatments (which there is no evidence work[1]) except in severe cases doesn't help cattle welfare either.

Thirdly, the product is of poorer quality. Organic milk has a higher somatic cell count (a measure of the quantity of cellular contamination) than "normal" milk, so has a shorter shelf life, and isn't as good for turning into dairy produce.

If you really wanted welfare-friendly milk, then you'd want milk from older multi-function animals, rather than the modern specialist dairy breeds. There would be quite a high cost associated with such a product, however...

[1]and I've seen one study conclude that they don't

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Apart from reverting to older breeds, is there _anything_ that can be done differently in the production of milk that is either better or at least not worse than now for both animal welfare and environment. Are these things that can be measured and incorporated into a label for us consumers to choose?

For example, Anchor butter have started advertising that all their milk comes from cows fed only on grass, and promoting this as a good thing. But is it? What are cows missing out on? Are some of those things we would rather they missed out on (like ground-up other animals)?

I'm going on about this because I'm not a vet, and I don't have years of training, but I do have certain opinions about food production that I want to express directly in my purchasing. Labels like 'organic', 'free range', 'fair trade' make that a great deal easier, but if they're wrong in some cases, then I want to know why and how and to shout at people like the Soil Association a lot until the labels are trustworthy again.

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Having cows outside all year is fine, if you have the climate. They do in New Zealand, we don't here, they end up standing hock-deep in quagmire, which isn't good for anyone's welfare.

More generally about things we can do here - we can encourage farmers to have thoughtfully designed housing which is nice and clean to prevent mastitis, and gentle on the legs to prevent lameness - these are the two biggest things that go wrong with dairy cows. The problem is that the margins in dairy farming are so low that if you forced every farmer in Britain to replace their post-war cowshed with a shiny new one, more than half of them would go out of business, to no one's benefit.

Fundamentally you can't push for high welfare while still squeezing every last penny out of the farmer at the farm gate like the supermarkets do. Push the margins that low, and something has to give. The organic movement has the right idea with many of their welfare standards, and they work for nearly every other class of animal, but I think at best you could say that they were broadly neutral when it comes to dairy cows. Yes, they ban permanent housing and force the farmer to provide straw bedding (many dairy units are concrete and 'cow-beds' - wash-down rubber pads in the sleeping areas) but on the other hand they have over-strict requirements when it comes to antibiotics which interfere with mastitis treatment.

So, in the current market, I'd definitely buy organic veg, because it's much nicer on the environment, and would buy organic meat if I could afford it, because it's probably nicer on the animal, too. Eggs, yes. Milk, if you value the environment and are willing to overlook the marginal-to-none animal benefit.

Basically, I think when it comes to milk the Soil Association are well meaning but misguided, and need to relax their regulations on antibiotic treaments for mastitis. But that'll be a hard one to sell to the average residue-shy Organic food buyer...

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Cheers for that :)

As it happens, most of my milk consumption is from the stuff kindly delivered by my milkman. Not organic, but relatively locally-produced and providing local employment. But as you've indicated, organic wouldn't be significantly better for environment or animal welfare, so I think bottle-on-the-step wins.

Local is about the best you can opt for, on the grounds of reduced transportation thus reduced environmental impact of the aforementioned transportation.

Although fresh (ie straight from the cow, pre-pasturised, still warm) milk is SO much nicer, that should you ever end up living next door to a dariy farm, ask them to buy your milk direct from them at 6:30am every morning. *drool*

Thanks for this - it's really helpful. I'm borderline vegan, but I do buy dairy milk sometimes, and have often wondered whether I ought to buy organic.

Is goat's milk better than cow's milk, perhaps? I imagine that goats haven't had their physiology quite so grossly distorted as cows have...

Dairy goats are pretty badly over-yielding, too, and get a lot of the same problems that dairy cows do, associated with milking. They may well be better off in some respects, but these things are always hard to tell.

What

emperor said about old breeds is really a key thing - you occasionally see milk labled 'From Ayrshire Cows' - Ayrshires are pretty little red cattle which have never had the abuse the Holstein-Fresians have, and whose welfare in my experience is better.

That's interesting.. any recollection where you've seen this stuff?

Speaking as someone who swills down milk with her breakfast cereal daily I think making my wake-up meal a bit more ethical would be nice :)

ISTR Waitrose, but it would have been a couple of years ago, because I moved away from our local one that long ago...

What abouyt Jersey, is that any better? I'd guess not given how popular the milk is.

I completly agree. I think if you are going to use modern dairly breeds organic farming is really not going to work very well.

mastitits

A bit Freudian, what? *ROTFL*

I just found this entry again whilst looking it up for a friend, which reminds me I need to add a *thwap* here...

*cherishes the thwap*

I wonder if you get a placebo type effect in animals... hmm...

I'd be very surprised if you didn't. Simply paying attention to an experimental group changes their behaviour.

"Where treatments were grouped into categories such as ‘homeopathy used’ vs ‘homeopathy not used’, there did not seem to be any differences between the groups in their effect on disease."

So, no :->

http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=AW1020_6045_FRP.doc

That just means that animals don't get the placebo effect with homeopathy.

Placebo effect works very well on *owners* though. Which is doubly cruel: the patient's needs are ignored but the bill payer feels warm and fuzzy. Homeopathic veterinary is disgustingly unethical.

I can believe that the placebo effect might work on animals. You'd have to find something that the animal thought might help it but actually makes no difference - like maybe animals like eating green things, so if you dye their food green or something.

The fact that its owner appears to be taking more care of it and doing things they don't normally do.

(In human subjects, the placebo effect works even if you don't believe in it, and presentation, location, delivery method and the appearance of the therapist can all alter the strength of the effect.)

Matthew's Journal

Organic milk rant

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