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FREE RANGE DAIRY® |
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FREE
RANGE DAIRY is the registered trade mark of Free Range
Dairy cc Reg No CK 2009/085901/23 |
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Above: Holstein-Friesian
cows grazing lush kikuyu
pastures
in the Karkloof
Valley, kwaZulu-Natal. The cows are free to roam within the
pasture area and thus exhibit natural behaviour. Cows are
able to select the best quality grass in the sward. Water is
piped to the pastures and provided in drinking troughs.
Generally, cow on pastures exhibit low stress levels and are
often healthier.
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Left - A dairy farmer and his
advisor discuss management of the winter ryegrass
pastures.
Note the area available to the cows for free movement. For
health reasons, the cows will not have access to the dam,
but will have water available in drinking troughs close by. |
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Right - A herd of Jersey cows
grazing annual ryegrass
pastures
in Winterton, kwaZulu-Natal.
After milking, the cow's teats are treated with a safe
product (that contains a red colour marker) to
prevent infection. |
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Right - A group of healthy,
pasture-fed
heifers. Even from an early stage,
pastures can play an important role in feeding heifers. |
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Left - Cows on pasture are free to exhibit natural behaviour. The cow on the right may be "on heat" as can be deduced by the Flehmann or
lip curl behaviour of the other cow. |
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Left - Cows need at least three
litres of water to produce one litre of milk. This means
that high-yielding cows need more than 150 litres of fresh
water every day! Depending on the climate, this amount can
be even higher.
One of the most important criteria of Free Range
Dairy®
is that cows must have free access to safe, clean drinking
water.
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Right - Winter dairy scene:
grazing irrigated annual ryegrass and kikuyu
pastures
in the Highflats area of kwaZulu-Natal. |
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Free Range Dairy®
certifies goat's milk farms where the farming operation
meets our stringent audit requirements; in particular,
access to sufficiently large paddocks where they can
interact freely. |
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Left: In this production
system, cows are fed a
total mixed ration
(TMR) and spend
all their time in these lots. All feed is brought to the
animals and they normally never graze out on pastures. Once
the dung heaps get too big, the lot is cleared. |
Right: In the typical TMR
production system, cows receive all their feed on a "feed
pad" such as this.
The feed typically consists of a balanced ration of
roughages
and
concentrates
ingredients. Fresh pastures may be cut and
mixed into the ration although this is not common: generally
the roughages consist of hay and maize and/or grass
silage
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Above: These cows are housed in
a free stall barn. They are housed under roof and have
individual stalls, lined with matting, in which to lie. For
further comfort and to keep it dry, wood shavings and
sometimes clean river sand, is spread
on the matting. Extractor fans and even mist blowers may be
incorporated above the cows for their comfort. Electric
"back scratchers" may increase cow comfort and even relieve
boredom.
A
total mixed ration
(TMR) is fed on
a feed pad to the left of the photograph. Water is provided
at the far side of the stalls. The barn is typically close
to or even adjoining the milking parlour with the result
that cows have a very short distance to walk to be milked.
In some cases, cows are sent out to graze pastures for part
of the day. This is generally referred to as a partial mixed
ration (PMR) system. |
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Above: Images from a large
commercial dairy operation where the cows are housed in
modern sheds but where the floor is cleaned only once or
twice a year. These cows live in mud and dung day and night! |
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Left - Certified Free
Range Dairy®
milk is guaranteed to be free of all
performance-enhancing drugs such as rBST or rBGH.
The use of antibiotics, other than under the direction of a
veterinarian to treat a sick animal, is also strictly disallowed. |
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and what would not qualify
as certified Free Range Dairy®
