Wakker Dier worried about time in the meadow for young cow

Animal welfare organization Wakker Dier believes that young cows, between one and two years old, don’t get out enough. The club bases this on manure figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). “The ratio of manure and meadow manure shows that the animals are increasingly in stables. The percentage of meadow manure has fallen from 27 percent in 2011 to only 20 percent in 2021,” the organization calculated.

The fact that the number of cows is decreasing is another matter, according to a spokesperson, because it concerns the growing differences between the percentages of manure. “This is a worrying development. Cows belong in the meadow, not in the stable”, says Wakker Dier.

It is not about calves, because it is usual for them to be kept in stables, but about young animals that still have a career as dairy cow waiting. According to Wakker Dier, it is important to let young cows out to pasture. “Cows have to learn to graze: they copy this from older cows at a young age. Moreover, grazing strengthens their immune system and their body develops better if they can exercise a lot.”

Dairy cows are also still too rarely in the meadow, according to Wakker Dier. The trade association ZuivelNL reported last year that the percentage of dairy farms that let the cows walk in the meadow has increased. The share rose in 2021 from 83.7 percent in 2020 to 84.0 percent. But the time in the meadow, according to Wakker Dier, has been “very low for six years and is not increasing”.