The Life of a Male Calf.

“The most powerful bond we know of is the bond between mother and child, and we break it in order to make “comfort foods” for ourselves” — Michael Schwarz”

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N.Z. is supposedly a country with excellent animal welfare laws, but it is rather abysmal and the dairy industry is just one example.

In 2015, we brought in a law stating that all animals are recognised as sentient beings. Plus it requires that owners of animals and persons in charge of animals are to attend appropriately to the welfare of those animals.

However, I wonder how this law can be so blatantly disregarded when it comes to the dairy industry, especially the male calves.

For cows to produce milk, they have to give birth to a calf. Most calves are separated from their mother within 24–48 hours of delivery to harvest the milk for human consumption. Taking the calf away to stop it suckling can help the cow return to her ‘heat’ cycle earlier than normal. The industry also maintains it is safer for the calf, something I find a poor excuse as the males are either killed on the farm or sent to slaughter.

The term ‘bobby calves’ refers to newborn male calves that are less than 30 days old and not with their mothers. Each year, around 450,000 of…