Why is the calve not taking the milk? why are we taking it away from the calve?!


Question: Calves are taken away from their mothers, in most factory farming, intensive production line.

Over 90% of the beef is own by intensive factory farming companines.

So why are we taking away the calves milk?

Answers: Calves are taken away from their mothers, in most factory farming, intensive production line.

Over 90% of the beef is own by intensive factory farming companines.

So why are we taking away the calves milk?
its supply and demand.
the cows are artificially inseminated to keep the supply of milk for people to drink.
Dairy cows
People who regard milk as "the perfect food" rarely think about milk as a commercial product – prone to the hazards of mass-production. John Robbins, author of May All Be Fed, puts it well; "The modern-day Bessie is now bred, fed, medicated, inseminated, and manipulated for a single purpose – maximum milk production at a minimum cost."

While sometimes permitted to range in open pasture, dairy cows still spend most of their lives chained by the neck in milk stalls, reduced to lethargic milking machines. Even Ottawa's Experimental Farm, known for relatively "humane" standards, says its dairy cows are chained by the neck 23 hours a day during winter months.

In order to produce milk, a dairy cow must give birth. To maximize their milk supply they are artificially inseminated every year, meaning they are pregnant for a physically demanding 9 months out of every 12. Their calves are traumatically taken from them shortly after birth. The resulting surplus of calves feeds the veal industry.

With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, Canadian cows produce an average of 9,519 kg of milk per year7a — seven times more than they would produce naturally. When their milk production wanes after about four years, dairy cows are sent to slaughter where their worn out bodies are ground up into hamburger.

These unnatural conditions make the modern dairy cow highly prone to stress and disease.

Veal calves
Dairy cows must produce offspring every year to keep their milk supply flowing. The result is large surplus of calves. According the Ontario Farm Animal Council, "Veal farming has made it possible to turn by-products of the dairy industry into a positive contribution to our food chain."7b Unfortunately that comes at the expense of the animals involved. Male veal calves are sold to the veal industry and raised in dark sheds. Motherless and alone, they may suffer from anemia, diarrhea, pneumonia, and lameness and see the light of day only on their way to slaughter. Female calves are added to the dairy herd or are slaughtered for the rennet in their stomachs (used to make cheese).

as a vegan i dont drink milk, i became vegan after educating myself on this issue, but as long as people continue to drink milk the farmers will make money and the calves and cows will suffer!
hi top cat! thank you! and thank you for your interesting question, you obviously had done some good research! :)x Report It

Other Answers (8)

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  • Allison G's Avatar by Allison G
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    • They don't care about them, they want money.
    Hey, Top Cat. Cow's milk is for baby cows and not for baby people or baby cats or baby dogs. If we didn't demand it the farmers wouldn't supply it like they do.

    The Muse
    A female mammal will produce milk for much longer than the offspring needs it as long as the milk is being expressed. Human "wet nurses" were used to feed arsitocrats' babies after their own babies were weaned. So cows are used to produce milk for humans long after their calf has started to eat grass.

    This is not to diminsish the horrors of factory farming - it's just that those horrors are not required to enjoy cow's milk.
    The mother cows have no need for the milk once their calves have been taken away to the veal crates.
    They want the calves to be weak so they can be easily kicked around and kept under control. And many calves are killed for veal. By giving them milk it would cost on their precious profits and make it harder to seperate the veal from the hamburgers.
    Okay, I'm an animal science student, and honestly, a lot of what's out there is propaganda.

    1. Yes, the calves do get some milk. They receive what's called colostrum, or first milk, without which they can't survive. Because the cow can't placentally transfer antibodies to the calf, the calf receives them in that first dose of milk. Without that, they will die.

    2. The calves are not mistreated. Why? Sounds horrible, but they're profitable. You lose one, there's money down the drain. They're taken good care of.

    3. Most female calves are not raised for meat. They're raised as replacements for the dairy herd.

    4. Dairy production is a completely different subject than beef production. Different breeds of cattle are used.

    5. Dairy cattle produce more milk in one day than the calf can consume. We have selectively bred the cows this way. If she is just left with her calf and not milked as well, then she will produce too much milk and be in pain.

    6. Leaving the calf with the cow will cause contamination in any milk that we do take from her.

    7. Cows have been selectively bred to have shorter teats, because it is less painful for the cows when they are on the milking machines that way. Shorter teats also help prevent trauma to the teats when they are being milked. However, it makes it more difficult for the calf to "latch on" and find the teat.

    8. Most of what you have seen on the "horrors of dairy farming" isn't true. Not in this country, anyway. Most ranchers love their animals. They are their livelihood. If an animal isn't producing up to par, then he will lose money. They aren't treated cruelly, no matter what you've heard. Any rancher who does treat his animals badly is doing a s**ty job and will go bankrupt pretyt quickly.

    9. And factory farming? Not so much in the dairy industry. Large ranches, yes. But it's mostly those ranchers having a partnership with those large conglomerates and selling their milk product.

    Hope this helps.
    Never been to a farm, have you. The fact is a cow will continue lactating as long as it's milked after the calf is weaned. The cow will naturally wean the calf if left alone. (Seeing the mother cow headbutting and chasing the calf away isn't pretty, but it's nature.) After milk production begins to decline, the cow is bred again to start the cycle over.
    I'd like to know where you can document the "over 90% of the beef is own (sic) by intensive factory farming companies" .
    I live in cattle country and I don't believe it.
    Don't believe everything PETA says sweetie pie. I live between 3 giant dairy farms, and have toured them all several times. PETA lies to defend their ideology, and that is the truth.

    PETA puts out a lot of information that others use, so you may not know it is from PETA but here's one way to tell.
    The information goes like this:

    EVERYTHING about meat or milk is HORRIBLE, and GROSS and UNHEALTHY and only for PROFIT.

    If the information you got sounded like that, it may as well have come from PETA.


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