Effort aims at assuring consumers that cow are well cared-for

By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press

A coalition of California dairy groups has launched the first statewide program to promote and verify responsible animal care on the state's 1,750 family dairy farms.

The initiative joins California dairymen with National Milk Producers Foundation-led National Dairy FARM Program -- Farmers Assuring Responsible Management. The national program is designed help farmers demonstrate their ethical treatment of dairy cows and create consistency of dairy animal-care practices across the country.

Michael Boccadoro, executive director of Dairy Cares, which adds the animal welfare focus to its 10-year-old environmentally sustainable efforts, estimates the program will initially reach 80 percent of California's dairy families.

That's because it's being promoted by leading processors, including Dairy Farmers of America, Land O'Lakes, California Dairy Inc. and Hilmar Cheese.

"We expect other processors to join," Boccadoro said.

"There's more discussion today than ever before about how we raise and care for our animals," said Ray Prock Jr., a dairy farmer from Denair, Calif., and co-chairman of the Dairy Cares animal well-being committee, in a statement issued by Dairy Cares. "We need to be part of that discussion, especially as our customers and consumers ask questions about how we care for our animals. This is our opportunity to assure them that we're committed to doing what's right."

Outreach and education workshops, reviewing critical issues in animal welfare, will begin at the end of April, Boccadoro said.

The workshops will focus on what the program entails and how producers can best be prepared for on-farm evaluations, scheduled for the last half of the year. Those evaluations will be done by producers' processors.

"Cost to the farmer should be minimal. It will be implemented by processors who will bear the lion's share of the cost," he said. "It's designed to not be borne by dairy farm families. The cost could be below $100 to farmers."

After on-farm evaluations are completed, independent third-party verification will begin in 2011.

"Third-party verification is still being determined, but the key there is it will be independent," he said.

Who will do the verification, how much it will cost and who will bear the cost are still being explored, but not every dairy will go through the verification and costs will likely be spread among processors and dairymen, he said.

"We've always cared for our animals, and now we have a program in place to validate that we care," Jamie Bledsoe, a dairy farmer from Riverdale, Calif., and co-chairman of the Dairy Cares animal well-being committee said in a written statement. "Actions, not words, are the only way to maintain and build trust with our consumers."

In those rare instances when animal care doesn't measure up, dairymen have a program to identify issues and address them, he said.

Links

Dairy Cares: www.dairycares.com

National Dairy FARM Program: www.NationalDairyFARM.com

Ray Prock Jr.'s blog: http://raylindairy.wordpress.com

Ray Prock Jr. on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Raylindairy