Heidi and Prince
The calves of the dairy industry
The dairy industry is one of the most important production sectors in German and Austrian agriculture. But what many people forget: For cows to produce milk, they have to give birth to a calf every year. Rearing and caring for calves is expensive, making them a troublesome “by-product” for farmers. Bull calves like Prinz are particularly hard hit. Their path leads them to fattening and ultimately to the slaughterhouse.
Loud mooing greeted Tina Tulpe on her trip through the Eifel (Germany). She parked at a dairy farm and wanted to stroke the calves in the igloos. Only one of them dared to go outside and immediately started sucking Tina Tulpe’s hand. Mrs Tulpe immediately fell in love with the calf, which she assumed was a small bull. She had already read a lot about bull calves on dairy farms and that male animals have no place in the consumer-driven dairy industry.
In the past, farms supplied milk and meat. Nowadays, many farms have specialised and keep high-performance cows instead of the old breeds, which produce many times more milk than they did a few decades ago thanks to one-sided breeding. In the 1950s, a cow produced around 2000 to 3000 litres of milk per year. Today, it is not uncommon for high-performance cows, especially Holstein Friesian cows, to produce more than 10,000 litres of milk per year. During the peak of lactation, this means up to 60 litres of milk per day. What is economically profitable, however, leads to a major problem: in order for the cows to continue producing milk, they have to give birth again and again. But where to put the calves?
(Photo: © Tina Tulpe)
Where to put the calves?
After birth, the little calves are usually separated from their mother immediately. They spend the first few days of their lives alone in calf hutches. Many female calves, like Heidi, are reared on the farm to continue the life of their mothers. The high milk yield that is genetically demanded of them takes its toll. Dependent on concentrated feed, they spend most of their lives in the barn and after a few years their bodies are exhausted. They are then often sold for slaughter, emaciated and worthless. On average, high-yielding dairy cows only live to be 4.5 years old, whereas their natural life expectancy is a good 25 to 30 years.
However, bull calves from dairy cow farms, such as Prinz, are usually a great evil for farmers, as they cost a lot to rear and bring little profit. One-sided breeding for high milk production means that they produce very little meat. Bull calves thus become an expensive “by-product” for the dairy industry. Their journey takes them over days of torturous transport to a farm specialising in calf fattening, usually in the Netherlands or Spain, where they are kept in very confined spaces and fed on milk for an unnaturally long time to keep their meat white. After just six to eight months, their lives end in the slaughterhouse.
(Photo: © RTL)
Prince had a guardian angel
This would also have been the route for bull calf Prinz. But he had a guardian angel. Tina Tulpe committed herself to him. She contacted Gut Aiderbichl via long-time sponsor Thorsten Sleegers and was immediately given a commitment: There is room for the sweet little calf at Gut Aiderbichl Iffeldorf! After several phone calls, the farmer agreed to sell Mrs Tulpe the bull calf, but to her surprise it was not the little calf from the igloo. As she later learnt, this calf was a female baby and was to become a productive dairy cow. Mrs Tulip was not prepared to accept this fate for the little animal. After tough negotiations, she was also able to give the second calf a carefree life at Gut Aiderbichl. “At first, the farmer didn’t want to give up the dairy cow under any circumstances,” says Tina Tulpe. “Her mother is genetically a particularly productive dairy cow and, unlike Prinz, Heidi was valuable to the farm. But the farmer showed heart and after tough negotiations I was able to buy Heidi free and protect her from exploitation by the dairy industry.”
“Rescue operations like Prince and Heidi’s are essential to protect the animals, but they also draw attention to the suffering of millions of calves. Such stories can only be ended if there is a rethink among the population,” says Dieter Ehrengruber, Managing Director and Chairman of the Gut Aiderbichl Foundation.
(Photo: © RTL)
