I walk up and say "yeah it's torcher!" Grab a jug "I'm going to go pour this out." Walks to cart. "Pour it out on cereal my 8 yr old daughter loves cereal."
You know they use the milk to feed the calves right? They stay with their mothers for a few days, and then they get plastic udders connected to milk until they are old enough to go without.
-modscar
Most farmers don't really have time to bottle feed calves, so unless the mother has issues they leave the calf with its mother, besides the first few batches of milk is useless for sale anyhow since its very thick and full of the mother's antibodies, which is why calves that don't get those first few feedings often have life long issues if they survive at all. While milk replacer is acceptable and often can save the calf it takes almost twice as long for the calf to gain weight.
Oh, so most of you folks get their milk from cute little farms, where they only sell the milk the calves won't need? That's adorable... don't bother finding out, how the milk industry works by visiting this http://freefromharm.org/dairyfacts/ page, cause y'all don't get your milk from a supermarket, but straight from Old McDonalds farm.
And yes, milk is food... for babies, that's why we're called mammals. Cow's milk is baby food for calves. No calves - no milk, easy as that.
I absolutely love all the idiots commenting about how much they know of the BIG dairy industry, vs old farmer Fred and his three cows. You're one of the only people who commented that actually knows anything about what really goes on, and for that, I thank you.
I sell milk to supermarkets and my dairy is by no means a slaughterhouse (by the way that site seems like something that whack job animal rights group crapped out) and my cows are not forced bred the bulls do a fine job of that themselves besides artificial insemination of a cow is no different than the human version although its mainly used in cows to pass on certain desirable traits or ensure a healthy batch of sperm is used and mainly only done so to keep a $20,000+ stud bull from hurting himself which they can do and furthermore you can't exactly ask a cow permission to inseminate and a bull sure isn't gonna ask permission if she's in heat he's gonna seek! The veal point is true of some veal farms (I don't deal in veal.) but by no means is a one-size-fits-all operation. In conclusion DON'T lump all farms into one category because like dog breeders for every bad one there are 10 good and the bad ones usually don't last long. Another point the cow in that site that has the...Cont.
Distended udder has Mastitis which is very common even on good farms and she has likely been out to pasture for a while and was just corralled since a lot of farms have 300+ cows and limited staff its hard to catch them all thankfully its easily treated with an antibiotic and very rarely fatal.
The quality of milk depends on the happiness of the cows. If you think that milk farmers don't do everything to make their cows happy then you're wrong. Happy cows=better milk=more money for making the cows happy. Stressed cows make icky milk
Whospikedthepunch: what percentage do you think you represent of the total dairy market? Right, not that much, is it? Or do you want to argue in number of farms, because its just a small number of industrialized farms? And what about the relief that cows feel when milked, and the dreaded milk buildup? Would this happen, if a) the calves would just drink the milk the cows produce for them and /or b) the cows weren't bred to produce enormous amounts of milk? This btw. resulting in a pretty limited life span compared to "normal" cows... What about the antibiotics in the industry? Whospikedthepunch, you found a way to get cows to produce milk without being pregnant before? Or a way to avoid the calves since you don't "deal in veal"? How does dairy production without excessive calves work exactly?
cows do need to be milked frequently to be healthy BUT since milk is such an important staple the way and rate we get it is unhealthy for the cows. so by that logic it is technically cruel but you can't expect everyone to milk their own cow. it's something that probably won't ever change. except worsen.
not really, if people say have humanity, they referance kindness, of mercy, so if people want to "have humanity" they have to show kindness to everything. That's my opinion anyway. p.s. milk isn't considered meat
The irony is that the clothes they are wearing are most likely made out of the country in sweat shops where there is violence, but that's none of my business
Dairy is worse than meat for sure. Most milk producing cows are slaughtered by the age of 4-6, when they are too exhausted to produce milk anymore. So really eating meat is less cruel... at least meat cows are killed quick. Dairy cows on the other hand are frequently impregnated (artificially), and separated from their babies (very stressful for both mom and baby). Don't kid yourself about the calves either. Veal anyone? Those that aren't culled are raised to be dairy cows . Anyway, these chicks look silly, but it is a much darker topic once you get into it.
I have a cow that is ten years old, in fact she was one of my first cows, their natural lifespan can be upwards of 25 years. Not all farmers are hard on their herds most respect them and feel a great loss when something happens to them, not only in the wallet but emotionally. I personally dread having to put one down although I do keep several beef cows mainly because I prefer to know where my beef comes from and what it has eaten I still respect them and none of them fear me in any way (except the bulls they got to know who's in charge but that's mainly just me raising my voice and not backing down)
-modscar
And yes, milk is food... for babies, that's why we're called mammals. Cow's milk is baby food for calves. No calves - no milk, easy as that.
That's interesting
*continues to sip on milk
WITCHCRAFT!!!!