THL
While the natural lifespan of a cow is 15-20 years, the dairy industry rarely allows cows to live past age five. They're sent to slaughter soon after their production levels drop.
Many people consider dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt to be vegetarian, cruelty-free foods since they don't require the direct killing of an animal. But milk production causes a great deal of indirect killing, as well as significant physical and emotional harm to cows.
Industrial-scale dairy farms separate mother cows from their calves, often within hours of birth. Because they cannot produce milk, these dairy farms often send male calves to slaughter. This cycle of birth, traumatic separation, and killing continues throughout a dairy cow's life until she is "spent"—no longer able to produce milk—and she herself is sent to slaughter. Overall, even though milk isn't the actual flesh of an animal, its production still comes at the expense of many animals' lives and wellbeing.
What type of cow is a dairy cow?
Humans have been using cows for milk for many centuries. While all cow species can produce milk for their young, farmers only use a few breeds to produce milk for human consumption. Today, there are seven primary breeds commonly found in the United States. They are:
- Holstein
- Jersey
- Brown Swiss
- Guernsey
- Ayrshire
- Red and White Holstein
- Milking Shorthorn
In the US, Holsteins are the most popular breed of dairy cow, representing over 90% of the national population.
Milk production statistics
Below are a few statistics regarding milk production.
- As of January 2020, The average cow produces roughly 2,031 pounds of milk per month.
- Holsteins can give birth at only 23 months of age—less than two years old.
- India has more dairy cows than any other country, with roughly 60 million cows.
- In 2021, the European Union produced more cow milk than any other region in the world, at nearly 145 million metric tons.
Can cows produce milk when they’re not pregnant?
To this day, it is a common misconception that cows produce milk throughout their lives. Just like human mothers, cows only produce milk after they've given birth to calves. The milk is intended for their infants. In order to produce milk on an ongoing basis, factory farms repeatedly impregnate female cows through artificial insemination. Industrial dairy cows go through their first pregnancy when they are around 25 months old. After giving birth, mothers lactate for about 10 months. Then, they are impregnated again.
This cycle continues until cows are around 5 years old. At this point, their bodies are considered "spent" and no longer useful to the industry. Spent cows are killed and sold as low-grade beef or for other uses.
Do cows feel pain when they are milked?
The actual milking process does not appear to cause cows pain, however, this could be due to a lack of scientific exploration or understanding. Because dairy cows have been selectively bred and given growth hormones to produce higher volumes of milk, milking can be necessary to reduce the discomfort caused by pressure on the cow's udder.
The conditions dairy cows endure on factory farms can cause pain, ulcers, and even bone fractures. Dairy cows also experience deep psychological pain on farms. Farmers have witnessed mothers cows crying for days at a time after their calves are removed from them at birth, a cruel practice that is standard in the industry. The "zero pasture" environment of factory farms—meaning that cows are forced to spend their entire lives indoors—causes additional stress.
What problems can forced milk production cause?
Before the dawn of industrial farming, cows evolved to produce enough milk to feed their calves—about one gallon of milk per day. Through selective breeding and the use of artificial hormones, modern dairy farming practices have drastically increased average milk production to seven and a half gallons per day. Cows are trapped in an endless cycle of pregnancy which forces their bodies to produce the largest amounts of milk possible. These practices, combined with the conditions on factory farms, give rise to numerous physical problems in cows that often result in chronic and debilitating pain.
Infertility
For a dairy cow on a factory farm, infertility can be a death sentence. Because cows must give birth to produce milk, an infertile cow becomes a financial liability and will quickly be removed from the herd and killed. Even a decrease in fertility can be lethal. Some cows experience reproductive issues, requiring them to be bred less frequently. But decreases in production are something most factory farms will not tolerate. Low-producing cows are often the first to be sent to slaughter.
Lameness
Factory farms crowd thousands of cows into cramped, indoor spaces, restricting their movement and cutting off their access to the outdoors. These conditions result in cows suffering from lameness. Standing on concrete for prolonged periods causes cows to develop ulcers in their hooves. In addition, when cows have to stand in their own feces, they are prone to infections such as foot rot and digital dermatitis—conditions which also trigger lameness.
Mastitis
Mastitis is an infection of the mammary gland in mammals caused by a bacterial infection. The condition is one of the most common reasons for reduced production in cows, costing the industry billions of dollars every year. Unsanitary conditions in barns, such as on soiled bedding or contaminated equipment, trigger infection. Mastitis is a painful condition for cows, but is only fatal if farmers see production levels drop, which results in cows being sent to slaughter.
How long do dairy cows live?
While the natural lifespan of many cows can reach 15 or even 20 years of age, the vast majority of dairy cows do not live beyond 4.5 to 6 years. This is typically the age when a female cow's milk production drops, resulting in farms sending her to slaughter.
How are dairy cows slaughtered?
In the US, the same slaughterhouses process both beef cattle and dairy cows. By the time dairy cows arrive, their bodies are often so damaged and diseased that they're unable to make the short walk from the transport truck to the killing floor. To prevent sick animals from entering the food system, it is illegal for downed cows to be slaughtered alongside "healthy" cows. As a result, downed cows are often pushed into slaughterhouses through side doors using bulldozers or other means of prodding.
Cows are then guided into a stall, where they are stunned using a gun with a retractable bullet that is meant to render them unconscious. Unfortunately, this stunning method is often inadequate, leaving cows alive and aware of the subsequent steps of slaughter. Finally, cows are hung upside down and their throats are slit.
Do people eat dairy cows?
People do eat dairy cows once the cows can no longer produce enough milk to meet the dairy industry's standards. Because dairy cows are pushed to their physical limits on factory farms, the meat from their bodies is generally considered lower quality (or "low-grade") and is used in cheaper products such as ground beef. As of 2018, 21% of the total beef supply in the US came from dairy cows.
What happens to the calf?
To produce milk, the mother cow must give birth to a calf. Female calves can be entered into milking production or sold as veal. Because male calves are unable to produce milk—and are therefore unprofitable in the dairy industry—they are either shot or sent to veal crates. Regardless of sex, calves are taken from their mothers almost immediately after birth. This often causes significant mental distress for the mothers and impairs the social and physical development of the calf.
Calves who aren't shot shortly after birth are put through several surgical procedures, most often performed without any anesthetic, even though these operations cause significant pain.
Castration
Male calves who will be raised for meat undergo castration. There are several different ways this procedure can be conducted. The "elastrator" is a tight ring affixed to the scrotum that is known to cause extreme pain. Other methods include cutting away portions of the scrotum and destroying testicles by removal or crushing.
Disbudding
Also known as dehorning, disbudding is a process where the horns of young cows are removed. Horns can be burned away using caustic acid, or cut away using implements that resemble nutcrackers. The resulting open wounds invite infection and other painful complications.
Tail-docking
Tail-docking involves cutting off portions of a cow's tail to make the milking process easier and safer for farmers. Because of the painful nature of the procedure, and the fact that it is not necessary, the state of California passed a law to ban routine tail-docking in 2009, and several other states have introduced laws to regulate the practice.
What can be done to stop dairy cow abuse?
The dairy industry perpetuates the suffering, exploitation, and death of dairy cows. Those who aren't killed right after birth go on to live short lives marked by abuse and neglect. Factory farms prevent many cows from ever setting foot onto grassy fields and socializing with other animals as they would in nature.
Ditching dairy and making the switch to more compassionate, plant-based alternatives is the best way to prevent the ongoing abuse dairy cows suffer on factory farms. And, you don't have to miss out on the taste you love. The market for plant-based milk alternatives has exploded as recent years, and vegan cheese and ice creams are becoming more widely available in grocery stores across the country. In addition, the potential for more cruelty-free dairy alternatives is growing as cellular agricultural companies explore ways to produce real milk without using any cows.
So, you don't have to give up on the tastes you love to stop supporting the cruelties that have come to define the modern-day dairy industry. Cutting back or cutting out dairy is a great way to help mother cows and their calves.
You can also take action to end the corporate cruelty of industrialized animal agriculture by letting companies know: abusing animals is unacceptable.
