Frequently asked Questions

The short answer is Happy Cow Milk Co promotes a simple low-intensity pasture based farming system. That means when the right number of cows are grazed on pasture and the farmer doesn’t import lots of feed from off the farm.

It’s very hard for those cows to adversely affect the environment. Most environmental issues from cows occur when farmers put too many cows onto land—which is all too common.

For a more in-depth discussion on this please read this explainer

First off, there are no unwanted calves. All cows that supply Happy Cow Milk Co have their calves stay with them from birth up to about eight weeks of age. The calf drinks from its mother whenever it wants and we take the milk that is left. When the calf is around eight weeks of age its rumen is fully developed and it is able to eat just grass.

At this point, our calves are separated by putting them in a separate paddock. The cows and calves can still meet at the fence. Over the next five days or so the cows and calves simply stop visiting each other and go their separate ways.

Just as they would naturally. No crying and no heartache.

We’d like to gently say, in the nicest way possible, that we don’t think A2 protein cows are actually better for your stomach.

It’s been 20 years since the claim was made that A2 protein cows may be better for dairy-intolerant people. To date, after 20 years of extensive research undertaken around the globe, there is no conclusive evidence to support the claim that A2 milk is better for your stomach.

In fact, A2 milk companies’ own website states “Published research suggests that A2 Milk™ may help avoid stomach discomfort in some people.” That seems like a very vague statement to us.

You may say “But milk has always upset my stomach and we have been buying A2 milk from a local farmer and I can drink it with no discomfort.” We agree, our customers have been telling us the same thing since 2014 and we have never been A2.

We think that drinking milk that has been lightly processed is the real reason it doesn’t affect your stomach. Our theory is that modern standardisation process which deconstructs milk at the molecular level and then puts it back together again is affecting how some people can tolerate milk.

But that is just a hunch.

We work with both certified organic and non-organic farmers, but we won’t be marketing our milk as certified organic. We are firm believers in organic farming principles and we have farmed to the certified organic standards in the past.

You can be sure that there are no antibiotics or growth hormones in the milk. Our antibiotic treatment protocols are exactly the same as certified organic farmers. There are lots of on-farm practices that we think are important, such as our policy of calves staying with their mothers. This policy is not part of the organic standards and as far as we know, no organic farm is adopting a cow & calf policy.

We know you want some form of certainty, that the milk is being produced in a good way. And for many the certified organic label is the measure you use. We know how the sausage is made and we don’t think organic certification is the best way of determining good ethical milk.

We hope that over time you will see how we communicate and how open we are with our customers. We’d like to think that we can win over your trust. We find the attitude and philosophy of the farmer is a better indication of farming practices.