to stay with their mothers for five months, and they only milk the cows once a day. charles ellett is in charge of the milking herd. he used to work on a large scale dairy farm. it doesn t take long for a cow to burn out, which is what, you know, those big herds have problems with. my oldest cow in here is 12 years old. she s just starting her ninth lactation. most cows in commercial systems are gone after four or five. and why is that? because their body just burns out? just burned out. he s had first hand experience of cow calf separation. they shout and bawl and, you know, they ll scream for that baby and pace around the pen. the ethical dairy has a herd of 120 cows, owned by farmer david finlay.
we wanted to see, is it possible to create a more natural environment for our animals so that they are relaxed, they are stress free and they re productive and healthy? you can see over here that the mothers are with the calves and that s, that s unusual, isn t it? er, to say the least. i think the industry predicted that we wouldn t be able to make it work, both in terms of financial and in terms of practical application. david finlay says that, despite much of his cows milk going to feed their calves, he makes it work financially. the milk he does take from the cows, he turns into profitable artisan cheese and ice cream, instead of selling it on as liquid milk. he also says keeping the calves with their mothers means they grow faster, so he can sell them sooner and keep his costs down. look at the calves. these calves are thriving.
at the farm. red tractor would only say that the farm is currently a member of its assurance scheme. we understand that neither of the government agencies identified any animal welfare concerns. animal equality has reported the welsh farm to the local council and asked it to investigate their findings. last year, parliament approved a new law which increases the maximum prison sentences for those abusing animals from six months to five years. the government is also trying to introduce another piece of legislation the animal sentience bill. it s really important that we recognise that they are sentient, that they ve got the capacity to experience positive and negative emotions, that they may have strong social bonds with one another. in scotland, farmer david finlay says he has faced hostility for doing things differently.
at the farm. red tractor would only say that the farm is currently a member of its assurance scheme. we understand that neither of the government agencies identified any animal welfare concerns. animal equality has reported the welsh farm to the local council and asked it to investigate their findings. last year, parliament approved a new law which increases the maximum prison sentences for those abusing animals from six months to five years. the government is also trying to introduce another piece of legislation, the animal sentience bill. it s really important that we recognise that they are sentient, that they ve got the capacity to experience positive and negative emotions, that they may have strong social bonds with one another. in scotland, farmer david finlay says he has faced hostility for doing things differently. we re seen as fairly toxic
we wanted to see, is it possible to create a more natural environment for our animals so that they are relaxed, they are stress free and they re productive and healthy? you can see over here that the mothers are with the calves and that s, that s unusual, isn t it? er, to say the least. i think the industry predicted that we wouldn t be able to make it work, both in terms of financial and in terms of practical application. david finlay says that, despite much of his cows milk going to feed their calves, he makes it work financially. the milk he does take from the cows, he turns into profitable artisan cheese and ice cream, instead of selling it on as liquid milk. he also says keeping the calves with their mothers means they grow faster, so he can sell them sooner and keep his costs down. look at the calves. these calves are thriving. they re growing more than twice as fast because they re