Violated for Veal
The scary and short lives of male calves.
As discussed in my article, “Molested for Milk,” only mothers lactate. In the dairy industry, newborn calves have to go somewhere. If they stayed with their mothers, they would drink all the milk that the industry could sell to humans.
All calves, regardless of sex, are torn from their mothers mere days (1-2) after being born. Male calves are considered useless to the dairy industry because they will never be able to produce milk. They are kept isolated for five days before being herded onto a truck and sent to the slaughterhouse. Killing male calves immediately is far cheaper than ‘rearing.’
They are often withheld food for up to 30 hours before they are killed. Starved, confused, and desperate for affection, they cry for their mothers from the holding pens of the slaughterhouse where they’ll be killed the following morning.
Although the numbers in the USA have not been released, around 700,000 male calves are slaughtered as waste products of the dairy industry every year in Australia alone.
A small number of male calves are allowed to live a bit longer, up to six months, to be slaughtered for veal.
These male calves are tied at the neck with rope or chains and kept constricted in small crates to prevent their muscles from developing. When animals are able to move freely, their muscles contract and grow stronger, resulting in tougher meat. The boxes are so small that the calves can not lie down, turn around, or take a single step. The boxes also have no holes to provide fresh air or sunlight. These veal calves live their entire short lives standing in the dark. This lack of movement and constant strain on their legs result in serious and chronic injuries.
Because of their extreme cruelty, the UK, Europe, and some states in the USA have banned crates. However, their new accommodations are extremely similar to crates, the only difference being that they lack a top.
They are fed an iron-deficient, hormone-infused, liquid diet that results in chronic diarrhea. They are denied water, as the deprivation of water forces them to gain weight more quickly. Because of their poor diet and lack of water, they often succumb to intestinal and respiratory diseases. After four months of this miserable existence, they are slaughtered.
Those who get sick typically lack veterinary care and deteriorate quickly, many dying within days of falling ill. Due to their illness, they are unsuitable for consumption, so their bodies are dumped alongside garbage away from the other calves.
The typical lifespan of a cow is 20-25 years, but male calves raised are sent to slaughter between the ages of 3 and 20 weeks old. These babies are so weak, frail, confused, and young that they are forced onto the kill floor.
Workers beat the claves with paddles, wooden boards, and metal rods in order to force them to comply with their demands. These calves are picked up and thrown into a conveyor-belt-type line that pushes them forward and onto the kill floor, where they are shot in the head. This single bullet between their eyes does not always kill them immediately. Even while they kick and flail from the aftershock of the shot, they are strung up on a hook by their hind legs, and their throats are slit. Their blood erupts and pours down their lifeless face and into a puddle on the cement floor.
In slaughterhouses that do not use bolt guns or bullet guns, calves are electrically stunned with a two-prong machine stabbed into their skull and torso that feeds an extreme electrical current into their small bodies. The current is so strong that the calves' skulls begin to smoke. However, like the guns, this method is not always effective either. Again, these calves feel the knife plunging into their esophagus as the final moment of their short lives.
The calves that manage to escape the guns and machines are hung by their hindlegs without any form of sedation. Their throats are slit while they are completely conscious.
The female calves are also kept isolated and fed a powdered milk replacement. They will eventually join the same fate as their mother, forcibly impregnated each year, only to have her child face the same fate, and the cycle continues.
To learn about artificial insemination, read “Molested for Milk.” To learn more about the milking process, read “Defiled for Dairy.”
To learn more about the dairy industry, watch these free documentaries and videos following the corresponding timestamps.