The Life of the Dairy Cow: A Report on the Australian Dairy Industry

Authors: Voiceless , Deidre Wicks , Sarah Margo , Clive Phillips , Ondine Sherman

I was delighted to have the opportunity to update and republish Voiceless's 2015 report, 'The Life of a Dairy Cow' (a damning exposé into Australia's dairy industry), for a special edition of the Animal Studies Journal. It is now out and available, free, to read.

The edition honours Dr Deidre Wicks, a dearly departed friend and colleague. Her passion and dedication to animals, particularly dairy cows, were inspirational and led my team at the time to focus our research on the suffering of dairy cows in Australia. 

Thank you to Dr Melissa Boyde, chief editor of the Animal Studies Journal, for creating this special edition. And to Sarah Margo and Prof Clive Phillips for the huge amount of work they did to update the information. 

As I noted in my intro pages, dairy cows and calves continue to be trapped in an industry where their suffering is accepted and normalised. We will continue to be their voice.

Editorial, Contents and Contributor bios: https://lnkd.in/dcCKRjDR

Articles, Creative work and Book reviews: https://lnkd.in/dK_uXa3A

Abstract

The Life of the Dairy Cow, a report originally published by Voiceless in January 2015, was conceived of by Ondine Sherman, Brian Sherman (Voiceless) and Deidre Wicks, then a Voiceless Council Member. By thoroughly analysing the scientific understanding of the health and welfare of cows and calves, along with reviewing key laws and regulations and identifying shortcomings in current Codes of Practice, the report highlights significant concerns related to animal cruelty. However, there have been a few notable changes in the last 10 years. The following pages present an abridged version of this report, which has been updated to reflect these changes. While positive, there is much more work to be done. Unfortunately, the key welfare issues in the report are still relevant.