Defiled for Dairy
How much blood is in your cup?
The Buddhist Monks taught us that life is suffering. No one understands this sentiment better than the nonhuman animals exploited for human use. Today, we discuss the dairy industry and the torture and torment forced upon the souls of this enterprise.
Cows are very social beings. When in healthy environments, they create long-lasting and meaningful relationships with other nonhuman animals and human animals. Cows have strong memories and can remember the faces and names of other cows, and in the wild, they can remember where watering holes and grazing spots are. Cows are peaceful creatures, but because of their strong memories and social needs, they become hostile to those who hurt them or their loved ones.
Despite their extreme similarities to companion animals, 560,000 dairy cows (not including beef cattle) are slaughtered alone in North America each year. A dairy cow's typical lifespan is about five years, whereas their natural lifespan is 15-20 years (the oldest cow was 48 when she passed). When milk production declines in a dairy cow, she is discarded and sold for meat.
Two to three times daily, the lactating cows are herded into the milking shed and hooked up to industrial milking machines. The speed at which these cows are strapped and removed from the machines causes sensitivity and pain to their already sore udders.
Cows only produce milk if they are pregnant and shortly after giving birth. They are re-impregnated 45-60 days after giving birth to maximize the amount of milk they produce. This constant strain on their bodies causes serious health conditions and diseases like mastitis. Mastitis is an inflammatory condition that affects the mammary glands of dairy cows, causing pain and reduced milk production.
Some cows, known as ‘downers,’ collapse due to the pressure of continuous impregnation and the pain of producing up to 10 times more milk than they naturally would. Their hind legs give out as their udders have tripled in size. Bulldozers scoop them up and send them to slaughter. The rest are sent to slaughter when their milk production begins to slow down or they become too injured to continue.
Mastitis and similar diseases and conditions cause serious infection of the udders, resulting in milk that contains blood, pus, urine, and fecal matter. The average somatic cell count in a spoonful of milk in the US is over one million, which equates to an average of around one drop of pus in the average glass of milk. Blood in milk is so common that the USDA has to allow a certain amount as there is no way to remove it fully.
To learn about artificial insemination, read “Molested for Milk.” To learn about what happens to dairy cows’ offspring, read “Violated for Veal.”
To learn more about the dairy industry, watch these free documentaries and videos following the corresponding timestamps.