The Milk Marketing Fraud
This reproduces the contents of a leaflet called "The Milk Marketing
Fraud" available from the UK Vegan Society. It provides details of the
reality behind dairy farming in the UK.
Document sections:
In order to survive, the dairy industry perpetuates two myths. The first,
that the cow is relieved only of her surplus milk after the calf has been
satisfied. The second, that cow's milk is necessary for human health.
Both are utter nonsense.
So that unnecessary health-risk foods like milk, cheese, cream and butter
can be provided for the non-vegan market the calf is taken away from its
mother just days after birth, sometimes immediately. The cow is left with
nothing, yet she's expected to go on giving.
A continual flow of milk is extracted from the dairy cow only by
subjecting her to yearly pregnancies, the first beginning at around 2
years of age, each lasting nine months. After giving birth she will be
milked for 10 months, but during the third month she will be put in calf.
Only 6-8 weeks after drying out she will give birth again. So for 6-7
months each year she is milked whilst pregnant.
As one of 3 million milk-machines in the UK she is likely to be yielding
up an unnatural 6000 litres per year - 5 times as much as a cow in the
1950s. Milked twice, even three times a day, her full udder can weigh the
equivalent of 50 bags of sugar; in extreme cases it may even drag the
floor. Her unique stomach, designed for digesting grass, cannot cope with
the vast quantities needed for such high output so in order to reach
higher yields she is also fed concentrated pellets of imported proteins
and home-grown cereal.
Even then her production may outstrip her appetite. In order to keep up
she will have to break down body tissue: she will be "milking off her
back". The result can be one of many bovine disorders - ketosis - an
outstanding problem of early lactation. Rumen acidosis, induced by large
helpings of quickly fermented carbohydrate, is an important cause of the
foot condition, laminitis. An estimated 25% of all cows are treated for
lameness each year, and all foot ailments are likely to be aggravated by
the farm environment, where large herds now spend longer periods on
concrete with their hooves immersed in excrement. With 60-100 cows (in a
typical herd) each producing 40 litres of slurry per day a breeding
ground is quickly established for udder infections like mastitis, and
only a wide range of antibiotics, other drugs and dietary supplements
keep milk fever, staggers, liverfluke, lungworm and pneumonia in check.
The long suffering dairy cow is being pushed to her limits. Each year
over 20% are culled from the national herd due to infertility, disease or
poor yield. After 4-5 calves have been taken from her she will end up
between two bits of bread or wrapped in tin. So much for the pictures of
contentment.
In nature the calf would suckle for almost a year but nature, like the
calf, is denied by the dairy industry. Some calves may be separated from
their dams on the first day of life; others might remain for just a few
days. But as the inevitable by-products of relentless milk production
each will have to endure one of several possible fates.
- The least healthy bobby calves will be sent to market to be
slaughtered for pet food; to provide veal for veal & ham pies; or
for rennet to be extracted from their stomachs for cheesemaking.
- Some females will be reared on milk substitutes to become dairy
herd replacements and begin, at 18-24 months of age, the cycle of
continual pregnancies.
- Some will be sold at market at 1-2 weeks of age for rearing as
beef in fattening pens and slaughtered after 11 months, often
without sight of pasture. Up to 80% of the beef produced is a
by-product of the dairy industry.
- A few will be selected for rearing as bulls, spending their lives
in solitary confinement serving canvas 'cows' and rubber tubes.
Artificial insemination is now responsible for 65-75% of all
conceptions in the dairy herd.
- Around 270,000 unwanted calves are reared for veal, all but
around 12% of them spending their short miserable lives in narrow
crates (5'x2') on wooden slats and without straw. Whilst some
10,000 suffer such a fate in Britain the rest are exported for
the purpose. In solitary confinement, unable to turn around or
groom themselves they must drink the only diet they are allowed -
a milk substitute gruel. Deliberately kept short of the iron and
fibre which would redden their fashionably white flesh, they will
suffer from sub-clinical anaemia and gnaw at the crates and their
own hair for the roughage they crave. Fed large doses of hormones
and antibiotics to promote growth and prevent the onset of
infections caused by the stress of confinement abnd malnutrition,
they will suffer scours, pneumonia, diarrhoea, vitamin
deficiency, ringworm, ulcers or septicaemia. After 14 weeks,
barely able to walk, they are taken over long distances to
slaughter, many end up on hotel dinner plates back in Britain.
>From the Brambell Commitee of 1965 to the Agriculture Committee of the
House of Commons in 1981 every committe that has looked into the matter
has agreed that the veal crate should be banned.
But it is just part of a callous system that casts off young animals in
order to produce a commodity, cow's milk, that no-one needs, no-one but
the calf.
Over 170,000 calves die each year before they are three months old, due
largely to neglectful husbandry and appaling treatment at markets.
Cow's milk is for calves but hardly any calf gets to drink it. It's put
in cartons and bottles instead, for only humans steal the milk of another
species and base an industry on the needless theft.
If you would like to know more about the many aspects of veganism, please
send for our Enquirer's Pack. In return you will receive leaflets on the
following topics:
- Health:
- Answers many doubts as to whether a vegan diet can supply our nutritional needs.
- Animal Rights:
- Explains why veganism is the logical conclusion to any commitment to animal rights.
- Ecology:
- Details the benefit to our planet as a whole of a large scale adoption of veganism.
- World Food Problem:
- Explains the link between animal farming and human famine.
You will also receive a booklist of recommended reading on these subjects
and details of Vegan Society merchandise. Please send a large (9" x 4")
SAE marked 'Enquirer's Pack' to the Vegan Society, 7 Battle Road, St
Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex TN37 7AA
You may already be convinced of the strength of the vegan case. If so,
please join the Society and add your voice to the growing chorus of
concern over the appalling violence inflicted daily on all forms of life.
A new more caring way of living is not only possible, but is made a
reality by all those already commited to veganism. Please stand up and be
counted - join us now, and help to reduce the suffering in the world, of
both humans and non-human animals.