Let the Dairy Cows Out to Pasture

We have just put the cows out on pasture. It's the beginning of May here in Vermont, the beginning of many beautiful months where the cows try to keep up with the grasses. And, though it is only May, my mind has already turned to the coming winter. We have a barn to fix up, and hay to make and put away and two cows to breed. This will all happen over the next 5 or 6 months and by October we can expect our first snow fall.

The pigs will be fine come snow, they will stay in their hut and root around a nice big circle around it, keeping it free of much snow. They are hardy animals and grow a nice winter coat. Pigs are fastidious creatures and always delegate a spot in their pen to poop. For whatever reason they got the reputation of being slobs, but in the barnyard kingdom they get top marks for cleanliness. So long as we keep them fed and their hut bedded down with fresh hay they will need little more attention than that.

Likewise, the chickens won't require much more upkeep. Their nighttime house has more space than 30 chickens require. We will insulate it and have to feed them more than in the warmer months. They will venture into the areas that the pigs have cleared of snow. Though, they won’t go much further. Like most farm animals they go into a quasi-hibernation in the winter. They'll lay less. They'll eat more. They'll be generally less active.

The biggest creature in our barnyard is the cow. She is the biggest and creates the most work for the farmer in the winter. A cow poops a lot. She can produce upwards of 100 pounds of manure a day.  This varies according to breed, size, and diet of course. We have a rather small, Jersey cow, and she will produce somewhere around 80 pounds of manure a day.

Winnie and Bella love being out on pasture. They only walk themselves in when it is very stormy or cold.

When the cows are on pasture this manure is a wonderful thing. You keep the cows moving through the fields as they eat down the grass and their manure is left in the fields, which gives more fertility to the grass they eat. But in the winter the cows are more stationary. If you have some sort of loafing area with shelter where the cows can move about on, say 1/4 of an acre, then the manure builds up quickly, and the farmer needs to keep on top of this. The more cows he has, the more poop accumulates. If he doesn't muck his cows will literally be standing in their own poop. This is of course both gross and unpleasant for the cow and could eventually cause problems with her hooves.  The farmer needs to thus muck out the loafing area regularly and store that manure in one place so that he can then spread it on his fields come spring.  There is also the danger of ice in the winter. So, wherever, the cows are standing outside, must be kept free of ice at all times. If a cow slips on the ice it could be lethal.

Many dairy farmers obviate the need for mucking and de-icing by keeping their cows tied to stanchions in a big barn throughout the whole winter. Organic dairy farmers, conventional dairy farmers, even smaller-scale raw milk creameries do this. It is, by far, the easiest way to keep your cows through the winter. Farmers have been doing this for years. Thus, both new and old dairy barns have a manure shoot that goes all around the barn. It is set up so that the cow poops into the shoot, and then it can be turned on to shuffle all of the manure out of the barn and into a designated pile. This does away with mucking and keeps the barn smelling ok but it also keeps the cows locked into place, for the whole winter. Winters up in places like Vermont can run the better part of 6 months.

Could you imagine keeping anything tethered in one spot for a whole year? These are living, sentient, beings. They experience hunger, discomfort, pain, exhaustion just like we do. They become uncomfortable or bored or lonely or scared just like we do. To keep anything tied in one space for its entire life is simply cruel. While I understand the desire to keep the cows safe and dry and to lessen the repetitive work for the farmer, I strongly disagree with long-term stanchion-ing. The Humane Society put out a report that concludes keeping cows stationary can negatively impact their body condition and their natural social behavior. It can cause lameness. They are unable to clean themselves properly. They are bored. They are unable to physically interact with their peers. I cannot imagine keeping cows like this. And yet, I am not sure what the best solution is. This is a problem unique to places with winters like Vermont.

There are dairies (conventional and even organic) that keep their cows like this year round. Without the excuse of winter.   A 2007 report from the US Department of Ag found that only 9.9 % of the countries lactating cows are primarily housed on pasture. Likewise, it found that 49.2% of the lactating cows are primarily tied to a stanchion. It also found that only half  (49.4%) of the countries cows are ever let out on pasture, for any amount of time. This is confinement farming. It may not be chickens living in a sheet-of-paper sized cage, or sows in gestational crates. Cows are too big for crates and cages, but this is confinement farming, and the cows deserve to be let free to pasture. It would be better for their health, better for their happiness, and would produce more delicious milk. To help ensure you are not supporting cruelty to dairy cows you must be aware of where your milk comes from. If you buy organic milk from a big co-op like Horizon or Stonyfield or Organic Valley, it will usually say, on the carton, what farm that milk has come from. Look up the farm. Ask to visit it, if nearby, or even call up the farm and talk to one of the farmers. Ask how often their cows are on pasture. Make sure you know where your milk is coming from and that the cows are able to roam free.