Group sues Mendes Calf Ranch in Tipton, California
chri...@eastbayanimaladvocates.org
It alleges dairy calves are illegally kept in small crates.
By Lewis Griswold / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Tuesday, June 20, 2006, 4:27 AM)
Online at http://www.fresnobee.com/local/sv/story/12343081p-13073853c.html
An animal-rights group has sued Mendes Calf Ranch in Tipton, alleging that dairy calves are being illegally kept in crates so small they "can barely move or turn themselves around."
The lawsuit was filed Monday in Tulare County Superior Court by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, based in the Bay Area.
The lawsuit cites a state law that requires that confined animals have "adequate exercise area." It seeks a court order that would prevent Mendes "from confining its dairy calves without adequate room for exercise," the lawsuit states.
"We have no comment because we have not seen the lawsuit and don't expect to get a copy until Wednesday," said Robyn Leonardo, an employee of the calf ranch owned by Victor and Debbie Mendes of Tipton.
The suit also names the California Department of Food and Agriculture as a defendant and seeks a court order directing it to enforce state law on animal confinement.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund posted a video on its Web site, www.aldf.org, that it said was taken at Mendes Calf Ranch.
"It's plain as day they are in violation of the state anti-cruelty laws," said defense fund spokeswoman Lisa Franzetta.
But Debora Bacon, dairy adviser at the University of California Cooperative Extension in Tulare, sees it differently. She viewed the online video.
"If you pay attention, the calf is able to turn around. They are able to lie down. I don't think it's cruel," Bacon said. "I've been to the Mendes calf ranch, and I believe they do a very good job there."
Calf ranches raising 5,000 to 6,000 calves or more at a time are a relatively new development in dairying. Farmers take female and male calves to be raised there because "mortality rates on the calf ranches are drastically reduced," said dairyman Ron Koetsier of Visalia. A newborn calf is worth $400; a 4-month-old calf may be worth $800.
No state law specifies a minimum size for dairy hutches, said Dr. Jim Reynolds, a veterinarian at the University of California at Davis dairy center in Tulare. The standard hutch is 32 inches wide by 5 feet deep, has slats for waste to fall through and is about 8 inches off the ground. Each calf is in its own hutch.
"It's a clean, dry, healthy environment," Reynolds said.
Europe requires larger hutches so the calves can turn around without touching the sides of the hutch, but "I don't think that's necessary," he said. "They need to be able to turn around comfortably. The standard hutch, I can defend."
After 50 to 60 days, calves are ready to eat grain and are moved to corrals with other calves before they are returned to their home ranches, he said.
Females become milk cows; the best bulls, selected at birth based on bloodlines, are kept for for reproduction, and the rest are raised for beef.
The reporter can be reached at lgri...@fresnobee.com or (559) 622-2416.
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In February 2005 & February 2006, East Bay Animal Advocates (on the web at http://www.insidedairyproduction.com) documented conditions at Mendes Calf Ranch in Tipton, California. Calf ranches are a growing feature of dairy production. Tulare County is the largest dairy producing county in the USA.
View EBAA's video footage of Mendes Calf Ranch via the internet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEBL4RVW_qI