Animal welfare is an issue we take very seriously. It matters to our customers as well as our colleagues and, because healthy cows produce more milk, directly impacts the livelihoods of dairy farmers. That’s why it’s an area we continue to invest in.
Whether you prefer to buy our SO Organic milk, all of which meets the required standard for free range, or our by Sainsbury’s milk, which
meets our additional health and welfare standards, you can be sure the cows that produced it have been well cared for.
How we support our farmers
We’ve been working with the same group of dairy farmers since 2007. There’s over 260 of them and together, they make up the Sainsbury’s Dairy Development Group (SDDG).
The group was set up to provide more support to farmers and through it, we made several commitments. This included continuing to pay our dairy farmers a fair price for their milk and supporting them on matters relating to animal welfare, ensuring they can maintain the high standards our customers expect.
Why all our famers want happy cows
One of the many benefits we’ve seen since the SDDG was set up, is healthier cows. Healthy herds produce more milk and our farmers’ cows now produce, on average, an extra 1000 litres of milk each year.
The vast majority of our farmers’ cows graze whenever the weather permits. In fact, around two thirds of our cows graze for more than six months of the year. This means our customers buy over 250million litres of milk each year that meets the free range standard.
All of our SO Organic milk is produced by cows that graze during the grass growing months of the year, weather permitting. And because this is for a minimum of six months, our organic milk exceeds the standard required for free range status.