The livestock industry — not just Fairlife — has long portrayed dairy as an essential, wholesome product from cows who just happen to be producing milk on quaint, green pastures. But cows on dairy farms, even when they’re not overtly abused like those seen in undercover investigations into Fairlife, still face severe welfare issues because of the very nature of dairy production.
Today’s cows have been bred to produce far more milk than they naturally would, which greatly taxes their bodies. They’re (artificially) impregnated each year — another physical stressor — to induce milk production. After they give birth, their calves are quickly taken away so that humans can take their mothers’ milk.
Newborn calves are then confined alone in tiny hutches. Females go on to become dairy cows once they’re sexually mature, while the male calves are dehorned and castrated — often without pain relief — and sold off to become veal or beef.
Most dairy cows have little to no access to pasture and spend their lives confined indoors or on dirt feedlots. Naturally, they might live to 15 to 20 years of age, but by 5 or 6 years old, when bodies give out and their milk yield wanes, they’re sent off to slaughter.
Many of these practices have become standard on dairy farms of all sizes — not just on mega dairies. It’s a reality far different from what consumers often see in advertisements and on milk bottles.
I feel like this has been dairy industry standard practice for decades. Is this new?
Grew up in the great plains/midwest around the dairy industry. Had extended family who owned a smaller dairy farm. This all sounds pretty standard. Not saying it’s right, but none of it sounds new to me.
I would imagine there were plenty of people who bought modern marketing that was designed to cruelty-wash the dairy industry. The reality is there’s no way to insert yourself between an udder and a calf without cruelty, and that’s the only way to get cow’s milk. Unless we can figure out how to get milk from lab-grown organs, which probably comes with it’s own ethical issues.
Coworker has a cow/calf pair. The cow and calf do get separated in the morning, but after milking they are turned out together on pasture for the rest of the day. Of course, most folks aren’t lucky enough to have the space or means (or desire) to raise their own food the way they want. I have friends who love milk but cant stand the sight of an udder… funny. In their words, it is “better not to think about it.” Wild. My dream has always been to have a homestead, so I cant imagine the thinking…
I’ve helped out on smaller dairy farms around VT and after milking they are allowed to wander out where they want. If they don’t get milked they can get infections and such.