From: altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar)
Subject: Re: Cow Agribusiness News
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 04:21:20 GMT

The following response is from Esther, who I think makes
some good points and also tells us a little about the
situation in the U.K., which in some ways is more advanced
on this issue than Canada or the U.S.  Thanks Esther.

				ted

Ted Altar wrote:
>Similarly, if less "veal" calves are born, maybe less will be
>"used".  I suspect that the promotion of veal in part was
>instigated by the very fact that they had an "surplus" of
>male cows that, in the industry's eyes, begged for turning
>into a buck.
>

Esther correctly observes:

Unfortunately, there will still be a huge surplus of veal calves, as the
cows still have to produce a calf each year to keep up the required milk
supply (I know they would still produce SOME if they ran them through a 
year or two, but not enough to be economical).  Only a comparatively small
number of replacement female calves are needed, but all the cows will produce
a calf of some description.  

Since the veal crate was banned in the UK, many of the calves are exported 
to France to be turned into veal.  I see lorry loads of them going to 
market, being bought by a local calf dealer and sent off in huge transporters
to be shipped off for veal.  Most of the local calves from the dairy farms
end up there.  Perhaps what is needed is a hormone to induce an artificialo 
lactation (it CAN be done!  I've seen it done on goats.) but then no-one 
would want to drink the milk due to the hormones that might be in it.  

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I think things are beginning to show an improvement.  In the UK a start has
been made by banning the veal crates, which although it just pushes the 
problem further away, it does show more public awareness of the problems.

Also the demand for milk is falling, as shown by the introduction of 
milk quotas a few years back.  The quotas were cut each year until many
of the local farmers were forced out of business, as the government had 
encouraged farmers to invest lots of money on modernisations and the money
was secured on the farms.  When the quotas were cut, the profits were 
not sufficient to pay for the loan, so first the quotas were sold, and then
if there was still any money owing the farm would have to be sold too.
This has led to a LOT of old family farms being sold off, or cutting right
back on the dairy herds and diversifying into other areas.  Some have
turned to growing organic vegetables, and this area is now the centre for 
the biggest organic produce distributer in the UK, so you can see that 
things ARE happening, however slowly.  Some farms are diversifying into 
things like farm trails and nature reserves, and places where people come
to stay just to enjoy messing about in the countryside, so more areas are
being not being 'farmed' as such at all.  This *has* to be an improvement.

Control of the sex of offspring might not prevent many veal calved being
produced, but it will make an awful lot of difference in poultry production!
I once met someone who kept birds of prey, and he used to collect sackfuls
of dead male day old chicks to feed them on.  


Esther
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| Carl Keri Williams, ckw0@aber.ac.uk. "pretending that the days mean more    |
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