What if we no longer separate the dairy calves from mothers?

During their university training, the veterinarians to whom she is addressed all learned that they had to separate the dairy calves of their mother at birth.The goal was to avoid, among other things, the transmission of certain diseases.However, when we look more closely, the conclusions of science on the subject are not so categorical. Si vous analysez les études scientifiques, au final, elles sont légèrement en faveur du contact de la mère avec son veau, affirme Marina von Keyserlingk.

Marina von Keyserlingk studies dairy cattle.

Photo: Radio-Canada

Pourquoi la pratique standard dans le secteur laitier est-elle de séparer les veaux des vaches? Séparer les veaux, ça tombe sous le sens pour un producteur laitier.Where does his salary come from?Milk he sells. Donc l’idée, c’est qu’on récolte le lait qui sera ensuite vendu, explique la chercheuse.A breastfed calf will drink 8 to 10 liters of milk per day;For the farmer, this immediately represents an economic loss, because this fresh milk is more expensive than the milk powder normally to calves.But beyond financial considerations, there is the ethical aspect.

In the Netherlands, we try to develop a certification for milk from farms where the calves are kept with their mother.

Photo: Radio-Canada

Europe advances the discussion

In several European countries, a reflection on how to raise dairy calves is already underway.It emanates from consumers, but also farmers.The country who is the leader in this area is Germany.There, several certifications already exist with logos that clearly identify dairy products from farms where we no longer separate the calves from cows.

The German distribution giant Lidl (new window) recently joined forces with large traditional dairy producers who have adopted this new way of raising calves.

Kerstin Barth is a researcher at the Thünen Institute, a research center in organic farming in northern Germany.She has been looking for almost 20 years on the Vache-Vaux separation and finds that the interest in this farming mode is on the rise.

Kerstin Barth is conducting research on dairy calves with their mother at the Thünen Institute, in northern Germany.

Photo: Kerstin Barth

Beaucoup de fermiers qui ne sont pas en bio m’appellent parce qu’ils commencent à penser à ce système et voudraient aller dans cette direction, dit-elle.

Et même si la pression des consommateurs est une réalité, ce n’est pas ce qui motive les agriculteurs allemands à faire le changement, selon elle : la plupart des producteurs laitiers le font pour eux-mêmes et sont heureux de leur décision.They go to the stable and no longer need to wash buses of milk or do other boring tasks.They can observe calves, work differently with their animals.

Separate the calves from the cows, a relatively recent practice

Les vaches et les veaux ont été gardés ensemble pendant des milliers d’années, nous dit Kerstin Barth, qui s’étonne du manque de connaissance dans ce domaine. Les fermiers devraient bien connaître cet élevage, mais c’est comme si nous avions oublié comment les bovins laitiers se comportent ensemble et comment ils réagissent lorsqu’ils sont séparés.

In Germany, it has been barely 100 years since dairy calves have been raised away from mothers.

Several European dairy producers report that their veterinary expenses have decreased following the passage to the cow-veau system.But Kerstin Barth believes that you have to be careful before making a link with the mother's presence. Peut-être que la fréquence des boires n’était pas la même.If you give milk only twice a day to a calf, it will make a difference if it can suddenly suck up six or eight times.

And she is sorry that most farmers still do not give enough milk to their calves today. Pourtant, on sait que les veaux qui boivent plus, que ce soit du lait entier ou de la préparation en poudre, se développent beaucoup mieux.

So she believes that you must first make sure you have an excellent calves farm before joining mothers. Ce n’est pas comme si on mettait soudainement le veau avec la mère et que ça allait régler tous nos problèmes.

Move forward

Indeed, even if keeping the calves with their mother may seem natural, there is no instructions for use.Farmers who decide to end early separation therefore sail blind.Cornea Ansem, dairy producer in the south of the Netherlands, learned it at its expense.

Since 2007, he no longer separates their mother's calves at birth, but what started with a good intention is initially more complicated than expected. On a commencé par garder le veau et la vache ensemble pendant 14 jours, mais ça causait beaucoup de problèmes, parce qu’un lien très fort s’était créé entre les deux et puis on les séparait.

Cornea Ansem, dairy producer, and Cynthia Verwer, specialist in animal behavior, find that keeping calves with their mother also brings many challenges.

Photo: Radio-Canada

Today, after many tests and errors, he keeps them together for three months and the separation is done in stages.For a week, calves are placed in a special enclosure and can always suck the mother through a barrier. Après une semaine, on rajoute une autre barrière, et les veaux ne peuvent plus boire, mais ils peuvent encore voir leur mère et sentir son odeur.It’s a gradual separation.

Other producers use anti -Usuccion rings, a Canadian invention first developed for the bovine industry.These rings, which prevent suckling the action, allow calves to stay within the herd and not be physically separated from their mother, which reduces stress.

Looking for answers

Unlike Canada, research in several European countries on contact cows-Vaux contact systems is going well.Sigrid Agenas researcher, from the Agricultural University of Sweden, is currently carrying out a vast research project on the integration of calves into automated trafficking systems.The goal is to assess, among other things, the impacts on dairy yield, the health of cows and heifers and their long -term fertility.

Sigrid Agenas, researcher at the Agricultural University of Sweden, is looking at the integration of calves into automated trafficking systems.

Photo: Jenny Svennås-Gillner

All data from current dairy science comes from cows that have been separated from their calf.However, all over the world, in more arid areas like sub -Saharan Africa, many farmers keep the little ones with the mother.So, specifies the researcher, there are solutions to share milk between humans and animal babies.This is not new, but we are the first to study this long -term approach.

One of the questions with which farmers and researchers must deal with is the ideal duration of mother-old contact.Sigrid Agenas has been studying cohorts of calves since 2019 that spend four months with their mother. Ce système inspiré d’une ferme commerciale écossaise fonctionne bien, dit-elle. Mais pour arriver à déterminer l’âge idéal de la séparation, elle a gardé pour la première fois cet été un groupe de veaux avec leur mère pendant… huit mois! Si le consommateur rejette la séparation précoce, il risque de demander : "Pourquoi quatre mois?" Nous voulons donc valider différentes hypothèses.

For the moment, only a handful of Swedish farms have adopted the Vache-Vaux system and there is no certification for this kind of product in the country.The researcher recalls, however, that the present is not the guarantor of the future.

The Swedish research project is partly funded by a large private foundation which is very interested in the dynamics of the dairy market.The economic stake is therefore one of the crucial points of the research of Sigrid Agenas. Ça ne peut pas être seulement une question de bien-être animal, il faut que ce soit ancré dans un contexte d’affaires.How can a farmer adopt this way of doing and surviving financially?

Professor Sigrid Agenas and the postdoctoral student Hanna Eriksson in the company of a cow and her calf at the SLU research center.

Photo: Jenny Svennås-Gillner

These comments echo those made by Marina von Keyserlingk on this side of the Atlantic. L’industrie a besoin que la science soit 20 ans en avance sur elle.She needs us scientists, making mistakes first, because even if production will decrease, our salary will not affect it.

Change a practice that we have known for years, partially redeveloping the stables, all this will take time, but the researcher believes that we are going wrong by ignoring the subject.

What I say to the farmers is that it will take courage.But I think we have to start talking about it.I am convinced that the general population loves farmers and wants to trust them.No one expects everything to change overnight, but people expect farmers to try to improve every day.

Calves are no longer separated from their mother in certain European farms.

Photo: Radio-Canada

The report by Catherine Mercier is broadcast on the program La Week Verte on Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on here TV.To here RDI, it will be Sunday at 8 p.m..