Righteous Blog
Dairy Cows Need their Tails
Friday, October 9th, 2009
Governor Schwarzenegger has a bill on his desk, known as SB-135, which would ban the practice of cutting off dairy cows tails (also known as “tail docking”). Most dairy farmers do not do this to their cows but a few large operations do it to make milking faster and simpler. They also claim it’s more hygenic. Several years ago, I wrote an essay in the New York Times called “The Unkindest Cut” in which I argued against this practice (and also the cutting off of pigs’ tails). The essay points out that there is no scientific support for the justifications for tail docking and it’s well known to cause animals chronic pain.
Today, Bill and I sent Gov. Schwartzenegger a letter urging him to sign this bill into law. Here’s what we said:
Dear Mike Webb,
We understand you are the staff member who is advising Governor Schwartzenegger on SB-135, a ban on dairy cow tail docking. We are livestock ranchers in Marin County who are writing to make it known that we strongly favor the bill and urge him to sign it. This is a modest but important reform.
We adamantly support livestock farming, but we also believe that it’s imperative to make it as environmentally benign, as healthful, and as animal-friendly as possible. In addition to working on our own ranch, (where we raise turkeys, goats and cattle), we have both spent much of the past several several years advocating for what we believe are much needed reforms to the farm animal industries. Bill was a member of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which spent more than two years visiting animal operations around the country and reviewing all available data related to current animal agricultural practices, then made reccomendations for numerous reforms in April 2007. Nicolette is the former Senior Attorney for the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance and has spoken all over the country and written extensively on the many environmental , public health and animal welfare problems associated with current industrial animal methods. She is the author of the book Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Foods Beyond Factory Farms (HarperCollins, 2009) and numerous articles about the livestock industry. Both of us strongly support a ban on dairy cow tail docking.
In fact, Nicolette has even written an op-ed in the New York Times (called “The Unkindest Cut”) on the subject. As she explained in the op-ed, tail docking of dairy cows (and pigs) is not justified by scientific research and is well known to have serious down sides for the animals. In case you have not yet seen this article, here is a link to it: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/07/opinion/07niman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20unkindest%20cut&st=cse .
Really it’s just a matter of common sense. Some practices that cause animals pain or discomfort on a farm may be necessary for human or animal health or safety or for other legitimate reasons. Others practices are just cruel, outdated, and dumb. Docking dairy cows’ tails falls into the latter category. All farmers and ranchers should support getting rid of such practices because they give agriculture a black-eye. We urge Governor Schwartzenegger to sign SB-135.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Respectfully,
Bill Niman (Founder, Niman Ranch; Member, Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production; and Rancher, Marin County).
Nicolette Hahn Niman (Lawyer; Author, Righteous Porkchop; Rancher, Marin Country).
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