I don't know where this myth came from but many people are catching on to it. Especially after reading up on vege, this seems to be a total miconception. Cows can continuously give milk after birth, just like humans. As long as that cow is being milked on a daily basis, it can give milk for years and years on one birth alone. Same as humans can. You've all heared the stories of mothers breast feeding untill the children were 4 and 5 years old (fucked as the stories are however), but I've been around many MANY MANY MANY farms in my days, and there are some cows that are nearing 5 years old and are still giving milk from their first birth because they have been milked on a daily basis! I honestly disaprove of this story that the mass veg media and PETA are spreading, it's dissapointing and makes us as consumers look like morons! I'm not saying that farms dont constantly breed their cows for new calves to ship to the slaughter house, but, the myth that says milk cows must give birth to constantly give milk is crazy! Complete lies and propoganda!
You are saying that a milk cow need not be kept pregnant constantly in order to produce milk. ARE milk cows (in most cases) kept constantly pregnant? If so, does the fact that the constant pregnancy is unnessesary make the cruelty any less? To put it another way, your info on animal husbandry is useful to someone asking "How do I keep a milk cow?", it is less relevant to those who ask "are milk cows treated cruelly?" Thanks for the data. Truth is always a good goal.
Well, there is a lot of people saying that a cow must constantly be artificially insiminated each year and that each calf is taken away from her. They also claim this is done to keep her milking. The milking issues is not true. This is all I'm stating. YES, milking under harsh cercumstances is cruel. I completely agree with all vegetarians on this issues, but, I'm just trying to shut down a bull shit myth so poeple don't actually think it is necessary for a cow to constantly give birth and loose a baby. That is pure crap! (sry for the typos and uncoherent thoughts, I'm about to go to bed in just a second!)
i live near a dairy farm, and you can take tours of it. ive always been meaning to do that to see how they treat the cows.
One of the issues that PETA and AR groups have with dairy farms is the mistreatment of cows. Imagine having your breasts pumped twice a day for no valid reason (for you). Pretty sucky, not to mention tender teats. Some farms to not sanitize the teats properly, or treat, house, feed the cows properly. I live near dairy farms myself, I've been on all of them quite a few times (FFA, baby!). The cows there seem to be treated decent, thought they stand in their own manure quite often. Which could give them foot rot or soft foot. I can't count how many times we've had big city people come through and write to the local paper about how the farms need to change their practices regarding the calves in seperate individual houses. All the farms heeded the call. One puts the calf houses in the back, away from the road. Another created a completely seperate, luxury barn for the calves. I love that one (as much as one can, considering the calves are still seperated from their mothers), because it's heated, fully enclosed (A/C in the summer I imagine), and communal. The calves are no longer alone and chained. Some farms do something about the manure issue too; they have a track that runs by every ten minutes to push the waste into a channel which goes into an open pit (after the methane has been burned off). However, cows get loose and farmers have said that they've lost cows who've wandered into these manure pits. Not a pleasant way to die (I have always disliked that saying, is there a pleasant way to die?). The main reason why the milk industry is constantly impregnating their cows (another safety factor, would you like being pregnant every 18 months?) is to help support the veal industy and gain more cows. If all of the cows are AI, then where do you think the male-calves go to? Yep, veal and leather. So while PETA's arguement might be baseless, there are some truths behind it. You just have to know where to look. Have I stopped drinking milk? Not yet. I've been vegan before, but it's extremely expensive to maintain. Hopefully later when I have more money. Currently I am an apologist when it comes to drinking milk and dairy products. I do it, but it doesn't mean I like it. Except for ice cream. I can't be against that.
A cow can maintain milk production for quite some time after giving birth, but the cows on commerical farms are constantly kept pregnant because the milk output for pregnant cows is higher than it is for cows who have not given birth for a long time. Profit, profit, profit. I've been to a SMALL commercial dairy, and it was a horrible place. The smell is outrageous, your eyes water, and it is difficult to breathe. You know you can leave this horrible place, but the cows can't. They live their lives in muddy corrals with no grass in site. The ground water can become contaminated with the filth, rendering it unsafe for human consumption. The smell makes living in the vicinity very unpleasant. Many of the cows have infected teats, and Bovine Growth Hormone makes their teats abnormally huge and swollen anyway. During calving season, plastic igloo structures are set up to store the calves which were taken from their mothers almost at birth. The calves are kept in this enclosure that is set up so that they cannot move enough to even turn around. They are fed an iron deficient diet, and will be slaughtered without ever knowing the smell or touch of real grass or the love of their mothers. Commercial dairy farms are concentration camps for cows.
Like I've said and will say again for the 3rd time. This has nothing to do with the way cows are raised. I have not said at one time that a "farm" or whatever is a great place and is misjudged. All I pointed out was that I've seen articles on milk and they say a cow MUST be impregnated to keep the production of milk going. Which, again, is bs!
HI- I just wanted mention that a book "The China Study" researches the proteins in milk. And quite convincingly argues against drinking milk and eating other dairy products. I find the book very interest and a little scary. (Maybe this note is a little off topic)
