Milking Cows: Is Cow's Milk Good or Bad for You?

Of all the hardships farm animals are forced to endure, those used in milk production—such as cows, goats, and sheep—have some of the most difficult lives. In addition to the intensive confinement that defines virtually all industrial agriculture today, cows are kept on an endless cycle of pregnancy and loss as their newborns are wrenched away from them. Their milk, meant for their young, is sucked out for human enjoyment instead.

Far from being the health elixir once promised by dairy corporations, milk is one product that’s better left off your refrigerator shelves.

WHAT IS COW MILK?

Cow milk is a nutrient-dense food designed to feed newborn calves until they can forage for food on their own. As with all mammals, milk is produced exclusively by female cows, only after giving birth to offspring.

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Most people are unable to properly digest lactose.

Human beings are the only species on the planet that drink milk as adults. Although cow’s milk has been consumed by certain human societies for thousands of years, the majority of the global population remains unable to properly digest lactose.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF MILKING A COW?

There are two ways to milk cows: by hand or by machine. Both methods are unethical, in that they require confining cows for their whole lives, forcibly impregnating them, and separating mothers from their calves.

Milking cows by hand

Hand-milking is typically done on smaller farms and has been the method humans have employed for harvesting milk for centuries. It takes about 30 minutes to milk a single cow, a process that generally yields about a half-gallon of milk. Because of this inefficiency, many farmers now rely upon machines to do this work.

Milking cows with a machine

A milking machine extracts milk from the cow by vacuum, requiring less time and effort, while resulting in higher yields than hand-milking. There are many different types of machines suited for varying sizes of farms. Mega-dairies that confine thousands of cows are becoming increasingly popular around the world. They would not be able to function without milking machines.

DOES MILKING COWS HURT THEM?

While the actual act of milking cows does not appear to hurt them, the other activities required for milk production can cause significant pain. One of the primary sources of emotional and psychological pain for cows is the removal of newborn calves. Mothers have been known to cry out for their young long after the separation.

A number of other physical issues related to milking can cause severe pain.

Mastitis

Mastitis is a condition that can occur in the mammary glands of mammals, regardless of the species. It's an inflammatory response to bacterial infection, which, in dairy cows, can cause painful swelling of the cow’s udder, rendering the milk inedible for humans. Mastitis is frequently the result of contaminated milking equipment, but it's just as likely to arise due to dirty living conditions within farms.

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Infertility can be a death sentence for cows.

Because industrial agriculture considers cows only as milk-producing units, instead of sensitive, emotional beings, the costs of treating mastitis are often outweighed by the loss of production. Many cows are killed once they’ve contracted the disease.

Infertility

Because cows must give birth to produce milk, the ability to conceive is paramount to the dairy industry. Infertility can be a death sentence for cows because farmers have little tolerance for cows who are unable to produce high volumes of milk.

Lameness

Lameness occurs when the legs or feet become compromised, either by physical problems or infection. Lameness can cause debilitating pain for cows. It may take the form of sole ulcers, which are caused by poor nutrition, lack of exercise, or being forced to stand on hard surfaces such as concrete for prolonged periods. Bacterial infections can also take root in hooves, usually caused by unsanitary living spaces.

HOW DO COWS PRODUCE MILK WHEN NOT PREGNANT?

Being pregnant and giving birth is one of the most profound experiences for human mothers and their families. On factory farms, giving birth means something very different. Cows are artificially inseminated so that they give birth every year. Like humans, cow pregnancies last around nine months. Cows are milked every day following birth and are inseminated again during the previous lactation period.

Cows are given a break from milking (known in the industry as "drying off') for only about two months before giving birth again. Because of the extreme strain of these demanding production schedules, cows’ bodies begin to deteriorate after only a few years of life.

WHY IS COW MILK BAD FOR YOU?

Dairy companies have long touted the health benefits of drinking milk, yet more research is emerging that links milk and dairy products to a growing list of allergies, skin conditions, and even cancers, including the following:

• Prostate cancer (and possibly a higher risk of ovarian cancer)
• Bone fractures
• Skin conditions including acne, eczema, and rosacea
• Allergies, symptoms of which include constipation, diarrhea, and anaphylaxis

HOW DO DAIRY PRODUCERS GET A HIGHER MILK YIELD?

Cows have evolved to produce enough milk to provide for one young calf—sometimes two, if a mother gave birth to twins. This amounts to about a gallon per day. But as the result of a variety of techniques and technological innovations developed over the years, cows’ bodies have been modified to produce far higher milk yields than are natural: up to seven and a half gallons per day.

Hormones

While all the milk that mammals produce contains hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, extra hormones are often administered to dairy cattle to force their bodies to produce more milk. These synthetic hormones are called recombinant bovine growth hormones, or rBST. Because rBST can survive the pasteurization process—during which other pathogens are eliminated from milk before human consumption—rBST winds up in human bodies. Some studies have drawn links between rBST exposure and several types of cancer, including colorectal, breast, and prostate. rBST-treated cows are also more likely to develop mastitis, a painful and often lethal condition.

Nutrition

In the wild, cows forage on a variety of plants, including grasses. On factory farms, in order to artificially boost milk production, cow’s feed is filled with materials they would not normally encounter. These supplements may include:

• Choline
• Niacin
• Magnesium oxide
• Yeast products
• Decoquinate, an antiparasitic medication

Breeds

Cows have been selectively bred over many generations to produce more milk. The following cow breeds are most popular today for their unnaturally high milk yields, ranked from highest to lowest yield capabilities:

• Holstein
• Norwegian Red
• Kostroma
• Brown Swiss
• Swedish Red
• Ayrshire
• Angeln
• Guernsey
• Milking shorthorn
• Pie Rouge des Plaines

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CALVES?

Regardless of sex, calves are removed from their mothers almost immediately after they are born, since farmers do not want calves drinking any of the milk they intend to sell to human consumers. These separations are known to cause serious emotional stress and trauma for mothers, who are often heard bellowing in grief for hours and even days afterward.

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Male calves are either shot or sent to veal crates.

Female calves are often destined to replace their mothers within dairy production facilities. Any extra females, and all male calves, are either shot on-site or sent to veal crates. These crates only extend the suffering of calves for a matter of weeks; they are perhaps worse than death. Restrained in a tiny shed not much larger than their bodies, veal calves are prevented from doing any exercise, ensuring that their flesh remains tender. They are placed in social isolation, where they are denied companionship and even the simplest touch—an especially cruel sentence since these infants are meant to be under their mothers’ watchful care until they are old enough to care for themselves. Instead, they are held in solitary confinement for six weeks before being sent to the slaughterhouse.

HOW OLD ARE COWS WHEN THEY'RE SLAUGHTERED?

On factory farms, cows’ bodies are pushed to such extremes that they can only remain at peak production for three-to-five years, after which they are considered “spent” and sent for slaughter. Often, cows are so sick or lame that they cannot even walk from the transport truck to the slaughterhouse floor. These “downed cows” are not supposed to enter the food supply system, but many are roughly pushed and prodded onto the killing floor so that their meat can be sold, as opposed to the cows being euthanized.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Cutting back on milk and dairy product consumption, or removing these products from your diet altogether, are effective ways to help address the demand for cow exploitation and the suffering that cows endure. Plant-based alternatives to dairy products—including cheeses, butters, spreads, milks, ice creams, yogurts, and coffee creamers—are becoming more widely available in stores across the country. It’s easier than ever to ditch dairy for good.

Human beings do not need to drink the milk of other species to survive, and cow’s milk is no exception to this biological rule. Between the physical hardships of being pushed to produce unnaturally large amounts of milk, and the endless severing of the mother-calf bond, the harsh reality is that the dairy industry is predicated on harming these gentle animals.