I would like a followup to know what companies are pasturing their cows outside so I can buy their products!

With the weather we have here, I dont really blame them!

Sad yet telling statistics like this make me want to buy my own cow and keep it happily in plain air in my backyard. It would be better for our health and for the cow's too!

It is rather easy to vote with your feet. Several products have "weidemelk garantie". For example, all fresh milk by Lidl, C1000 and Friesche Vlag is from cows that go outside.
You can recognize the products with this seal:
http://www.coop.nl/files/Local/Algemeen/Assortiment/Gezond%20en%20verantwoord/weidemelk.jpg

Don't kid yourself folks - drinking milk is not just unnecessary (particularly for adults), it's horribly cruel.

Yaya..don't eat anything as well, it is cruel to kill plants and animal as well. We will die anyway with or without osteoporosis, rakhitis, and other diseases.

Cruel you say, Glenn_uk?
Cows actually enjoy being milked, and when they aren't milked, they tend to suffer from discomfort.
There is a farm in the UK that uses an automated milker to let the cows choose when to be milked. They had to set limits on the machines because the cows kept re-entering the machine to be milked.

Thanks for the link @Pepe. I never noticed it before.

To CD Dahlem and anyone else that is intersted, Campina milk (and associated products) guarantees at least 120 days a year, 6 hours a day outside. Generally, diary cows have never been kept outside in the winter.

Netherlands exports most of it's dairy products. Factory farms involving animals should be illegal.

@ pepe and Matthew - thanks for the information about how to recognize milk products from pastured animals. This advice is a great reason to read an English version of Dutch news. Even though I speak the language I often miss the finer points - so having comments from fellow readers is helpful.