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First free range milk available now!
4th 2007 October 2007 |
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Cape Town-based dairy, Fair Cape, has converted all its milk products to free range and become the first South African supplier of free range milk. While other free range products, such as free range eggs, have been available in South Africa for a long time, this is the first time that consumers will also have access to free range milk. Fair Cape Free Range is available at selected retail outlets in the Western Cape.
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The term �free range� describes products that have been produced from livestock that are well-treated, and live in natural, comfortable and hygienic conditions. A healthy, happy cow of course produces nutritious, hygienic milk! The term guarantees that the livestock have not been ill-treated, as is unfortunately the case with many animals bred and kept to produce food.
�It is of utmost importance to us that our cows live in comfortable, spacious surroundings, and are treated well,� comments Fair Cape Farmer, Johannes Laubscher. �We take a great deal of care to ensure our herd is content and healthy, which in turn ensures an enhanced milk product.�
Fair Cape cows can choose between basking in the sun or when the temperatures get too high, they can seek the cool of the cow sheds.
They eat only natural feed that contains no artificial hormones or animal by-products. This means that the milk they produce is pure and natural, which of course has positive spin-offs for consumers who can rest assured that they are drinking uncontaminated and hygienic milk. The cows receive daily check-ups and medical care is always at hand if needed.
Fair Cape uses the Bokomo �cow comfort indicator� to ensure the wellbeing of its cows. This indicator is used to continuously monitor the comfort of the cows and ensure their comfort levels are kept at 90%. Interestingly, one of the signs on which this monitoring is based is the number of cows that lie on the ground as opposed to the number standing. If a cow�s living space is too small or the ground is wet, the cow will not lie down. Cows that lie down are happy, relaxed and comfortable cows!
Other Bokomo �cow comfort indicators� that show a happy, healthy cow are:
chewing cud, as a cud chewing cow is a contented cow
cow shed roofing that is high and allows hot air to escape through an opening in the middle of the roof, as this ensures the temperature of the shed environment remains cool
safe milking parlours with no jagged edges that could injure the livestock
ultra-clean walkways that are sanitised and disinfected regularly, and that are covered with rubber mats that ensure cows do not slip.
In keeping with free range principles, everything at Fair Cape is recycled, and no effluent is pumped into the environment. This means that Fair Cape is an environmentally responsible company, an attribute of which the dairy is justifiably proud.
The Fair Cape Free Range milk products are available in �fat free� (1litre), as well as full-cream and low fat (2 litre, 1litre and 500ml), and available from the following retailers: Shoprite, Checkers, 7Eleven and Spar.
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