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Is organic milk ethical?

Last Modified: 03 Oct 2007
By: Sue Turton

Channel 4 News exclusive on the row splitting the organic community. Should organic male calves be exported for veal?

More and more of us are choosing organic milk nowadays, trusting that it was produced in dairy farms where welfare standards for the cows are high.

Divisions

But do these standards apply to the entire herd?

It has long been accepted practice on non-organic farms that male calves deemed not good enough for beef, are slaughtered or exported to the continent for intensive veal production.

Channel 4 News has learned that some organic dairy farms are doing the same. It is an issue that is dividing the organic movement, which questions whether it sits well alongside organic principles.

The knackerman

The knackerman is an integral part of dairy farming on both conventional and organic farms.

He slaughters thousands of perfectly healthy one-day old male calves because the industry doesn't deem these milk breeds good enough for beef.

"Organic calves or non organic calves it doesn't matter, if the farmer doesn't have the ability to rear the calves himself then we put them down," said Tony Holdsworth, Duke of Beaufort's Hunt.

'We don't want any calves being disposed of that is a waste'
Helen Browning, The Soil Association

Acceptable?

The practice is accepted in non-organic dairy herds, but does it fit in with the organic creed with its higher standards of animal welfare?

The Soil Association, the leading body on organic foods, thinks not.

In their update to be published this month:

"It is not right that an organic system should be so unbalanced and wasteful of what it produces - consumers do not expect organic dairy calves to suffer the same fate as non-organic."

'The importance of export is absolutely fundamental to the current and future well being of dairy farms.'
Peter Kingwell, Premier Livestock Auctions

Organic sales

But with organic milk sales rocketing 136 per cent in the past three years, about 6,000 calves from these herds are now culled every year. Animal welfare groups are against this slaughter.

The alternative for these male calves may be even less palatable to the organic consumer.

We have spoken to cattle dealers who say they are exporting calves from organic dairy herds for intensive veal production in conditions deemed illegal in the UK; most are destined for Holland.

Protesters

It is 12 years now since protestors blocked the roads to trucks exporting live animals. The practice was then banned, not because of moral objections, but because of the BSE scare.

But those restrictions were lifted in May last year and live exports are now back with calves from organic herds amongst the livestock being shipped to the continent.

But for the farmers there's no room for emotion - these exports are vital to the economic survival of their business.

Consumers pay more for organic products trusting that they represent high standards of animal welfare. Producers rely on the organic bodies that give them their organic status to set the rules.

"We don't physically ban the export of male calves in our standards because we be believe it to be unworkable. Farmers are under immense pressure these days, they have a big disposable problem in a dairy herd with male calves."
Julian Wade, Organic Food Federation

Confusion

And here's where the confusion lies - different bodies have different standards and two of the biggest allow exportation for veal production.

Until every organic body signs up to the banning of live calf exports, organic milk from farms that condone the practice will still reach the supermarket shelves - leaving it to the consumer to decide if this milk should still be labelled organic.