California bans dairy cow tail docking

California has passed a bill to ban the docking of dairy cows' tails on Tuesday (May 26).

State Senator Dean Florez, D-Shafter, the author of Senate Bill 135, said this is a significant victory for animal welfare. Eliminating tail-docking has been a priority for the Humane Society of the United States, which sponsored the legislation, Florez said.

Tail docking involves removing one-third to two-thirds of a cow's tail, to make it easier for people to work around dairy cows and to keep cows' udders clean and to improve milk quality. However, studies have showed there aren't significant advantages to the practice, analysts said.

Regarding the ban, a dairy industry official said the matter was not very important because very few dairies still employ the practice.