P Huyton Leaflet
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Cows that produce milk for the Free Range Dairy Network are required to have access to grazing fields for at least six months of the year. This is meant to improve the lives of dairy cows by allowing them to engage in natural grazing behavior. Milk from cows that graze on grass is shown to have higher levels of healthy fats. By choosing milk with the Pasture Promise label, consumers can support family farms that allow cows to roam fields as intended by nature.
P Huyton Leaflet
- 2. The Milk Despite the widespread uses of images of cows in fields, labels on milk tell you very little about the farms your milk comes from and the life that the cows actually have. Traditional british dairy farms are disappearing from the landscape at an alarming rate, to be re- placed by larger, more intensive operations where cows are some- times confined indoors all year round. We have consulted with farmers to produce a simple set of stand- ards that are acheivable on farms, to give cows the kind of life you would want them to have. The free range dairy network licenses the pasture promise logo to dairy companies and farmers to pro- vide you with a simple assurance that the milk comes from cows that enjoy the freedom to graze in fields for at least six months of the year. The cows are not fed a 100% grass diet but, like organic farms there is a requirement for a minumum of 60% of the diet to be made up of forage. During the summer months the cows graze lush green grass and in winter the diet is founded on grass conserved as silage and hay. There is increasing evidence to show that milk from grass is lower in saturated fat and higher in healthy fats like Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Omega 3. Unlike the big dairies and supermarkets that mix milk from differ- ent kinds of farms, the small dairy companies we work with collect milk from approved free range dairy herds using dedicated tankers and keep it segregated from other milk at the dairy. By choosing milk bearing the pasture promise label, you can help us to keep cows in fields where they belong and reward farmers for produc- ing healthy nutritious milk that delivers real value for you and your family.
- 3. The Cows It is estimated that around 300,000 of dairy cows in the U.K never go outside and more and more herds have only limited access to grazing. But cows work hard for us, getting up early every day to produce milk and we think they deserve something in return. We consider grazing to be a fundamental natural expression for dairy cows and want to secure them the freedom to roam in fields in the spring and summer months. People already tell us they want to be able to choose milk from cows in fields and we know that freedom for cows and other farm animals is important to them. We want to win a fair deal for farmers, cows and consumers. But right now, milk labels do not tell you how much time cows spend outdoors. You will see wide- spread use of imaes and cows in fields, supermarkets and on dairy packaging. This creates a perception that all cows live the kind of life you would expect. Grass is a cheap, nutritious food for dairy cows and they turn it into healthy milk with high levels of omega 3 and other healthy fats. Keeping cows indoors all year round is an expensive busi- ness, which means cows are under greater pressure to deliver high milk yields. We promote a farming system that is not reliant on the relentless pursuit of high yields and gives cows something more akin to the life that nature intended. Under Free Range Dairy standards, farmers are permitted to house their cows in winter because they are often better off. The grass stops growing in winter and it gets wet and muddy in the fields. We also follow farmers to apply for a derogation to tem- porarily house their cows during the grazing season, if extreme weather events threaten to compromise the health and welfare of the herd.