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The fields around Groby are set to become the centre of what some reports have described as a revolution. Happily there's no need to lock all your doors and windows as this is a revolution in farming techniques, an approach which turns away from modern methods and puts the welfare of the farm animals at the centre of it's approach. The village has been chosen to be the home of Britain's first slaughter-free dairy farm.
The new venture is being established by the Ahimsa Dairy Foundation, a not-for-profit company that was set up to provide entirely slaughter-free milk. It works in partnership with a farm in Kent called Commonwork, an educational charity, which explores local and global sustainability and with the Organic Milk Suppliers Co-operative. Their mission is to make slaughter-free milk a reality and establish sustainable dairy farms in Britain, which give people a real ethical choice. It's hoped to build production up to 25,000 litres per annum after several years.
On a conventional farm male calves born to dairy cows are normally killed or sold for meat, while female cows are killed when they get older and cannot produce as much milk. But on the Ahimsa farm none will be killed and they will live out their lives in their entirety. Cows will be retired to sanctuaries when they are too old to milk. Bulls will work on the farm in a number of ways which may be ploughing the land or even producing electricity and milling flour.
"A cow can live until she's 20 years of age but in a lot of conventional dairies they are culled when they are five or six,” Nicola Pazdzierska from the Ahimsa Dairy Foundation told the BBC. "We think that's no way to repay the generosity of a cow after all that she's given us."
Bulls will be used to prepare the soil and help grow vegetables. "We very strongly argue that there's a very strong case for using bulls today," she said. "They don't contribute to climate change, they don't use fossil fuel, they don't compress the earth as a tractor does. The health and the quality of the soil is absolutely vital to being able to grow food."The cows are all named and their 'girls' currently produce 20,000 of litres of milk a year distributed to the door in North West London and parts of Hertfordshire. There are also drop-off points in other areas of London and the South-East and plans to distribute nationally in the future.
Some of the cows are already on site in Groby and have been there for a while. These are the retired cows and young boys, though a number of them are quite big now. The nine milking cows are likely to be relocated from the farm in Kent next year. “It will gradually take shape over the next few years,” explained a spokesperson for the farm. “You can't grow too fast with cows. It will be a phased development. Our first step is to have the right herdsman, who has now arrived and will begin to train some of the oxen. Then we will focus on putting up some barns and also have a trial at seeing what can be grown on the land.”
“We hope we are sufficiently on our feet by next spring to start inviting people to visit and participate to the level they wish. If our boys are ready, we may even have ox-cart rides around the property. We hope in the future to have a horticultural arm where local people can participate in growing vegetables.”
Presently three of the retired ladies are in Groby : Rosie, Champa and Draupadi. There are also two younger heifers: Primrose and Padma. It seems the ladies in retirement wander the pastures and sort out the younger boys when they misbehave. “The matriarch of the herd is Draupadi who suckled some of the younger boys when they were smaller, she has the final call!”
Needless to say the milk cannot compete with the prices charged in the big supermarkets, but there are enough people who are prepared to pay for an ethically produced product that they have had to stop taking milk orders. The development of the farm will be watched with interest by local residents and any Open Day is likely to generate a lot of interest.
‘This wonderful initiative represents the pinnacle of animal welfare and a shift towards recognising the importance of being nonviolent to nature and to animals in the production of food’
Patrick Holden, Director of Sustainable Food Trust
Link -http://www.ahimsamilk.org/how-to-help/new-dairy-revolution/
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