In order to produce milk, Dairy Cows must give birth. They are forcibly impregnated once a year and their calves are removed from them within a few hours, sometimes straight away.
Male Bobby calves are considered a “waste product” because they cannot produce milk. Bobby Calves are removed from their mothers within hours of birth and the majority of farms send their bobby calves for sale or slaughter within a week of birth. This applies to all male calves and around three quarters of female calves.
Some female calves are kept and raised to replace their mothers as part of the milking herd. They are usually not kept in the same paddock.
Each year, around 700,000 of these bobby calves are slaughtered in Australia.
Sometimes they are raised for a few more weeks then slaughtered for veal, their skin used as leather and their little bodies used for the pharmaceutical industry.
Female bobby calves are also exported to dairy farms overseas.
