Ban the amputation of cows' tails: Support S.107 (photo: Vermont free-stall)

Support Vermont S.107, a bill to prohibit the mutilation of cows' and horses' tails

Vermonters! Cows and Horses Need Their Tails!

Cows and Horses Need Their Tails!

You may have seen cows waggling mutilated tail stumps in vain attempts to swat maddening, biting flies. Cows warehoused in freestall barns also suffer chronic and phantom pain, comparable to that of human amputees.

Scientific research studies, the American and the Vermont Veterinary Medical Associations, the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, and even dairy industry trade publications have taken positions against the practice, yet too few farmers are voluntarily ceasing to amputate cows’ tails.

In response to the introduction of S.107, the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association’s executive board adopted a position that “opposes the surgical or chemical alteration of the tail of the horse for cosmetic or competitive purposes. This includes the practices of docking, nicking, and blocking the tail of a horse.”

Researcher Dr. Susan Eicher wrote in 2006, “Although tail docking of dairy cattle is a common practice on US dairy farms, it continues to be an animal well-being issue in the United States.” Years later, it still is common practice, it is still a well-being issue, and now, a more engaged public is scrutinizing farm practices and considers tail-docking cruel. Vermonters are conscientious about where our food comes from and how it’s obtained.

Although alternatives such as switch-trimming (trimming just the hair on the tails) could be adopted, many farmers continue to modify the cow rather than their milking procedures. To consign an animal to a lifetime of chronic pain (comparable to that of human amputees) and obvious distress during fly season is scientifically unjustifiable and socially unacceptable. To simply “discourage” dairy cow tail docking or make recommendations (advising the use of analgesics, etc.) is not enough: There should be a law prohibiting it—and it won’t cost a cent.

THERE IS NO JUSTIFIABLE REASON FOR ROUTINE DOCKING OF COWS’ TAILS.
SUPPORT S.107 BY SIGNING THE PETITION!

This legislation has been introduced at the request of Vermont citizen advocates.

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