Strategies for keeping cow and calf together in six European countries

Early cow-calf separation is a debatable topic in the dairy industry. The general practice on modern farms is to separate cow and calf within a couple of hours after birth. This is to ensure the calf drinks enough of the important colostrum and to easier observe its health. Consumers often oppose this practice and argues that it is unnatural. A system where cow and calf are together for a longer period of time does have several benefits. Letting a calf suckle its mother or a foster cow can help with developing social behaviours, boost growth and prevent stereotypical behaviours such as cross-sucking there the calf suckles the interior or other calves. Having a cow being suckled can have a positive impact on udder health and could result in a longer lactation period. Some studies have even showed that it can be economically beneficial to have a system with cow-calf contact. In this master’s thesis the aim was to study innovative strategies for keeping cow and calf together in dairy production. A total of 119 farmers have been interviewed from six European countries on how they rear their calves. The participating countries were Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. The criteria for entering an interview was that the farmer had to keep cow and calf together for more than seven days. The main milking system for participating farms was a fishbone milking parlour. Most farmers let the calf go with its mother and some had foster cows. The farmers said that their cows and calves were healthier now than if they would been kept apart. The main drivers for farmers to work with a system allowing longer cow-calf contact were that it was more natural, calves were healthier, better for welfare purposes and they enjoyed working like this. This thesis showed that there are active dairy farms using systems where cow and calf are kept together and that it is possible to implement a cow-calf contact system on a farm with a modern milking system