Besides humans, no species drinks milk beyond infancy, and never consumes the milk of another species. Cow’s milk is a refined substance especially suited to the nutritional needs of calves (calves have four stomachs and gain hundreds of pounds in a matter of months, sometimes weighing more than 1,000 pounds before they are 2 years old). According to the American Gastroenterological Association, when people ingest it, problems such as food allergies among infants and children can occur. Most people begin to produce less lactase, the enzyme that helps with the digestion of milk, when they are as young as 2 years old. This reduction can lead to lactose intolerance. Millions of Americans are lactose intolerant, and an estimated 90 percent of Asian-Americans and 75 percent of Native- and African-Americans suffer from the condition, which can cause bloating, gas, cramps, vomiting, headaches, rashes, and asthma.
Health issues are not really the issue, people abuse and poison their bodies in any number of ways, many much worse than consuming dairy products. And who cares about that, really? The real problem with dairy is the that is based on a platform of abuse and cruelty….blood simple.
Here’s how it goes…
Female cows are artificially inseminated shortly after their first birthdays, and after giving birth, they lactate for 10 months and are then inseminated once again. This goes on for the duration. Many live their entire lives standing on concrete floors; others are confined to massive, crowded lots. The average lifespan for a normal, healthy cow is close to 20 years; in the dairy industry, they are useD up after 5 years, at which time, due to lameness or reproductive problems, they are slaughtered.
On any given day, there are more than 9 million cows on U.S. dairy farms—about 12 million fewer than there were in 1950. Yet milk production has continued to increase, from 116 billion pounds of milk per year in 1950 to 206 billion pounds in 2014.8,9 Normally, these animals would produce only enough milk to meet the needs of their calves, but genetic manipulation—and, in some cases, antibiotics and hormones—is used to cause each cow to produce more than 20,000 pounds of milk each year. Cows are also fed unnatural, high-protein diets—which include dead chickens, pigs, and other animals—because their natural diet of grass would not provide the nutrients that they need to produce such massive amounts of milk.
Social/Behavioral Effects
Crate confinement prevents the performance of most of a cow’s natural behaviors including locomotion, resting, sleeping, grooming, circadian rhythms, as well as digestive, reproductive, explorative, and social behavior. No straw or bedding is placed in veal crates due to a concern that they will eat the straw and gain iron or fiber content which would color their meat.
Calves are forced to lie on the wooden slats of their crate which are covered in their excrement. The result of the calves’ inability to perform any of their natural behaviors is exhibited by stereotypic movements such as head tossing, head shaking, air chewing, scratching, and kicking. These movements indicate chronic stress.
Physical Effects
The confinement and insufficient diet of veal calves results in poor health and the prevention of healthy growth and development. Calves raised for white veal suffer from serious digestive problems including abnormal gut development and stomach ulcerations. Research has shown that calves raised in crates for veal are more susceptible to disease than calves housed in other systems and as such, require three times more medication and medical treatments.
Mastitis
Painful inflammation of the mammary glands, or mastitis, is common among cows raised for their milk, and it is one of dairy farms’ most frequently cited reasons for sending cows to slaughter. There are about 150 bacteria that can cause the disease, one of which is E. coli.12 Symptoms are not always visible, so milk’s somatic cell count (SCC) is checked to determine whether the milk is infected. Somatic cells include white blood cells and skin cells that are normally shed from the lining of the udder. As in humans, white blood cells—also known as “pus”—are produced as a means of combating infection. The SCC of healthy milk is below 100,000 cells per milliliter; however, the dairy industry is allowed to combine milk from all the cows in a herd in order to arrive at a “bulk tank” somatic cell count (BTSCC).13 Milk with a maximum BTSCC of 750,000 cells per milliliter can be sold.14 A BTSCC of 700,000 or more generally indicates that two-thirds of the cows in the herd are suffering from udder infections.15
The Veal Industry
If you drink milk, you’re subsidizing the veal industry. While female calves are slaughtered or kept alive to produce milk, male calves are often taken away from their mothers when they are as young as 1 day old to be chained in tiny stalls for three to 18 weeks and raised for veal.19,20 Calves raised for veal are fed a milk substitute that is designed to make them gain at least 2 pounds per day, and their diet is purposely low in iron so that their flesh stays pale as a result of anemia.21 In addition to suffering from diarrhea, pneumonia, and lameness, calves raised for veal are terrified and desperate for their mothers.
Why do we think Cows need a job?
What matters to a cow is their life, their friends, and their offspring. What doesn’t matter to her is whether or not she can provide you with money, cheese or ice cream. We don’t have to do this, and in fact, we can do better: animal rescue organizations like Farm Sanctuary exist to give cows and other farm animals a life free of pain and exploitation. Supporting organizations like these, as well as relinquishing your support of the dairy industry, is the best and easiest way you can help abused dairy cows. Save a cow, ditch the dairy.
Discover more from CAPE CHARLES MIRROR
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Editor’s Note: Here are two more attack pieces against Brown Dog:
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/brown-dog-wins-2015-made-in-virginia-award/
http://www.capecharlesmirror.com/news/brown-dog-ice-rocks-the-u-s/
That Mr. Creed, he is a bad, bad, bad man….but the cows and chickens like him.
This is nothing more than a thinly veiled attack against Brown Dog by a vegan with an agenda, namely Wayne Creed! It no coincidence that first, a few weeks ago, there was an article about the lack of vegan choices at Brown Dog. Now…surprise, here’s an article about the evils of dairy, the MAIN ingredient in their products! I find it troubling that Mr. Creed has decided to use the Mirror to try and FORCE his lifestyle choices onto others and to coerce a business into something they might not want to do. This whole article actually belongs in the opinion section, because that’s what it is…MR. CREEDS OPINION. The integrity of the paper as a whole has now been put into question seeing that Mr. Creed is using it to threaten this businesses livelyhood. He might say he’s not biased when it comes to these matters, but unfortunately, that is far from the truth as shown by this article. If it was me, I WOULD make a vegan alternative…just one, and it would be Durian flavored! But it’s not up to me, and it’s not up to Mr. Creed, no matter how hard he tries to shame and intimidate the owners. If they do decide to make some alternatives, I hope it’s because it’s something they have planned to do all along, and not because they feel forced into it!
….and all I wanted, was a non dairy option, being lactose intolerant, so that I could become a Brown Dog customer.
Note: This may be in the works; part of the issue is the state regulations, which I believe require that dairy and non-dairy items not be processed in the same area (separate kitchens) Brown Dog has acquired new spaces in the former Sullivan’s office supply; this may afford more space to create non-dairy options.??
The “attack on Brown Dog” premise of the above post is simply BS. Brown Dog is a fabulous Cape Charles business we should all support. Expressing a wish, in an earlier Mirror article, that they should carry non-dairy ice cream is not a criticism. This current article’s goal is education, shedding light on dairy. The milk you’re buying is not coming from cows on foothill pastures, but from tortured animals. Moreover, each serving of milk (8 oz) has 12 grams of sugar in the form of lactose. Since the World Health Organization recommends a daily intake of 25 grams of sugar per day, and since there are other demonstrated negative effects of dairy consumption, you need to question if you really want to torture cows to be a happy baby, or gradually change to many viable alternatives.
Note: If you click the ‘Opinion’ button at the top of the page, this article should show up there; it will also show up under the ‘Activism’, and ‘Animal Activism’ links.
Keep telling yourself that this is nothing more than coincidence! This is Mr. Creed attempting to use the Mirror to shame Brown Dog and put them on the spot. By not calling him out on this just emboldens him to continue these attacks on other businesses. What’s next, an article about how by selling dairy, meat, and poultry Food Lion condones animal abuse? Or maybe one about how evil and vile A & J Meat Market is because they sell dead animal products? If this article had been where it should be, IN THE OPINION SECTION, then I probably would have left it alone, but instead Mr. Creed feels that HIS life choices should be trust on everyone else. And if vegans want to eat alfalfa shoots and drink shots of wheatgrass juice, I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THAT! That’s their choice, it’s your life, but don’t try to force your way of life on others. I have never seen a more hypocritical group than the Vegans. Even though they are not consuming dairy or meat in their diets, they are still using animal byproducts on a daily basis whether they know it or not…Especially when it comes to medicine. The tires on your car, the asphalt your driving on, and many, many other things we ALL use every day have byproducts from the cattle industry in them. Let businesses decide for themselves how they choose to operate instead of being harassed and pretty much flat out told: ‘I disapprove of an ingredient you use to make the product that defines your company, change, or feel my wrath!’
“Only humans drink milk after infancy”. “Only humans drink the milk of other animals”. Would you expect to see dogs or monkeys raising cattle? Humans do thousands of things animals can’t do such as white articles, put ingredients together & cook so many wonderful things & invent wheels, cars, planes and so on. Milk is delicious and healthy and so is beef, veal, poultry, lamb, goat, deer & most other foods given to man by our Creator.
It’s all conected to the AGENDA! The Bay and the environment. Animal rights. Global warming. Vegans.
We all likely agree there must be reasonable restrictions but we also see the current over regulation is destructive. It is not right to force the ideas of one group down everyone’s throat. Let people be what they want to be, eat what they want to eat and live in whatever housing is OK for them.
New Jersey is a beautiful place but the politics has ruined it and millions have left to escape the tyrany.Cape Charles is a beautiful place as is Northampton County but the political bickering is unreal.
So, Andy…what’s your agenda? To destroy the planet as soon as possible by any means necessary. Or waste the resources, sickening the population and securing a twentieth of the world’s resources for only Americans, just out of blind greed or just plain old callousness and disregard for the rest of anybody else besides you? Just something to think about… but some people do tend to put others before them and are thinking of ways to make this a better world, you know for those little folks who came here after us. It’s not an agenda, it’s a thing.
Healthy living should be on everyone’s agenda. Not everyone chooses to be vegan – I’d die without a rare fillet – but everyone should welcome the opportunity to be educated, rather than dismiss it as bickering. We don’t deserve to be labeled and categorized for supporting a well-founded reality. You should seriously entertain the possibility that the world isn’t flat, rather than dismiss it as liberal agenda.
While I believe that education is important in regard to this issue…b/c honestly we do treat animals in ridiculous and inhumane ways, it should also be pointed out that there are possible alternatives besides being only strictly anti-dairy . What happened to small, local, family run farms where you knew the farmer and someone was actually responsible for the quality of their product? I know this is another crazy and controversial idea…but these are the farms that treat their animals with kindness and respect. These are the farms where the cows are so well cared for that raw milk is actually drinkable. These are the farms that will provide for your family in an emergency situation and know you by name. These are the farms that you can visit, research, and feel comfortable knowing that their animals are loved and respected. I guess the bottom line is that we really need to get educated, know where and from whom our food comes from and be responsible for ourselves. Most that I meet don’t want to know where their food comes from or what atrocities are committed producing that food…and this is why current large commercial farming practices continue to flourish.