In a win for animal welfare, the practice of forcing cows to give birth prematurely will be banned from January 2022.
Farmers have been able to use routine calving induction practices to get all cows in a herd to start producing milk at the same time, which involves administering corticosteroid hormones to induce the early birth of a calf.
RSPCA state that possible problems with the technique include the birth of unviable calves and calf death, maternal death, mastitis, calving difficulty, as well as sensitivity to sunlight, resulting in sunburn to cows' teats.
RSPCA chief executive Jan Davis said the community now expected higher standards for animals.
"We are always really pleased to see industry moving ahead in improved animal welfare standards and this is just another example of where community expectations have changed and the industry is keeping up."
New Zealand phased out and banned the practice in 2015.
In that same year the Australian dairy industry said it no longer supported the practice, and began its own phasing out process that will end on January 1, where the practice can no longer be used.
Instead, farmers can adopt herd fertility management plans to get cows into calf at certain times, removing the need for unwanted and dead calves at the end of a season.
Dairy Tas executive officer Laura Richardson said the decision to ban the practice was an industry-led decision.
"The dairy industry is always evolving and practices have changed and continue to meet both the needs of farmers but also community expectations," she said.
