Keeping calves and cows together
Animal-friendly calf raising
The Louis Bolk Institute runs a research project on the development of animal-friendly, economically viable calf-raising systems for organic dairy farms. The project, which runs from 2009 to 2013, specifically aims to find ways to improve the raising of young calves (0-12 weeks) suckled by their mothers. Important parameters are natural quality, animal health, animal welfare, ethics, robustness and economic feasibility. An important motivation for setting up this project was to respond to critical consumers who consider separating calves from their mothers as particularly animal-unfriendly.
Innovative international applied research
The project runs in Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, and is funded by the Norwegian Research Council. Follow-up research to compare different weaning processes is planned to take place in Canada. The project is led by the Norwegian National Veterinary Institute. The Louis Bolk Institute runs the project in the Netherlands, on 20 organic dairy farms. This international project is the sequel to a Dutch project that was completed with a
report in 2006.
Involving both producers and consumers
The starting point of the project is to analyse and assess present calf-raising methods. The knowledge of dairy farmers and their practical solutions are important input. The innovative concept 'Keeping calves and cows together' connects well with the image that consumers have of organic agriculture. That is why our researchers also look at the question how much consumers are willing to pay for animal-friendlier production systems. Furthermore, they will address the question as to what dairy farmers themselves consider the ideal calf-raising system, and to what extent cows benefit from suckling their calves for a longer period of time.
