ARA’s (animal rights activists) like to pose vicious statements as questions to dairy farmers online. It is an emotional scare tactic to sway others. If they had to convince people to go vegan based on the taste of food alone, they would lose every time. Instead, they dehumanize us farmers and spread lies. Here’s how I respond to some of the most common attacks.
ABOUT CALVES:
Do you kill the babies?
No. Calves are the future of the farm. There is no earthly reason to kill a newborn calf and I do everything in my power to ensure it lives. I have even brought premature calves in my house before to give them overnight care when they are in critical condition. Nature is cruel, not farmers.
What about the males?
We raise them. They are treated the same as heifer calves. They become steers at 2-3 months old and then raised to adulthood (18-24 month) for beef. Holstein steers are not a “by product” of the dairy industry. They take longer to finish but they make excellent & high-quality beef. 39% of Prime beef in the U.S. in 2015 was from Holsteins (USDA)
Why do you have ear tags?
We tag each calf with a unique number that is tied to a digital health record that includes everything from date of birth, genetics, health, location etc. This is like a passport and it is incredibly necessary to ensure that we are doing everything we can to take care of that animal. In order to practice good animal husbandry, it is important to have good records on each animal. This quick procedure is not stressful and very similar to a human getting their ears pierced.
Why do you separate calves?
Survival rates are much higher when dairy calves are raised by professionals instead of the mother cow. We provide clean, pasteurized milk from their mothers at the correct volume, a sanitary environment, medical care etc. We also do not abandon, step on, or kick the calves like many dairy cows would. As long as calves are well taken care of, they don’t care who does it. It gives them the best chance for life.
Why do you steal milk?
Our calves are still fed whole milk from the cows. A dairy cow produces more milk than their calf needs. The calf would get scours from drinking too much milk & the cow would get mastitis if left in a “natural setting.” We milk the cows and give the calf all the milk they need to grow. We only sell the excess.
What about veal?
We do not sell bull calves for veal. Very few bull calves go to veal in the US. It is a tiny market. Most dairy farmers sell their bull calves to other farms to be raised to adulthood for beef. Veal consumption in the country is only 0.2 lbs a person per year. There just isn’t a lot of consumer demand for it like in other countries. Veal calves are also raised humanely to a few months old, they are not babies. They are also not kept in crates.
Current legislation requires group housing & specific space requirements once they are past critical age & can leave a hutch safely. Almost all veal in US is raised in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania & New York. 50% of the family farms that produce it are Amish. Do not believe the propaganda on this topic. It is spread by activists as an emotional tactic.
Are calves confined in “crates” all of their life?
No. Our calves are raised in hutches because they are very fragile when they are young. We have the highest survival rate when they are raised individually because they are protected from the elements, disease spread & other calves drinking their milk. We can also individually monitor each calf this way & identify illness quicker than if they had been in group housing. Once they are 21+ days they are eligible for group pens because they are out of the danger zone for scours & have built up some immunity. Think of it as short-term social distancing. We typically move our calves into the group barns when they are 2 months old because it has worked best over the years on our farm. They spend the rest of their lives with their friends.
ABOUT COWS:
Stealing their calves?
The cows do not care that we raise the calves. They don’t even notice. Dairy cows have not had to take care of their calves for so many generations that they have very little maternal instinct left. Their job is to be milked & relax & that’s what they are good at. I have had calves killed & injured by their own mother on numerous occasions. Dairy cows don’t react at all when we pick up the babies. We usually pick them up in a couple hours after birth. By that time, the rush of oxytocin they get from birth is gone & they are eating or nowhere even near their calf. They do not “bawl for days” or chase after them. Those videos are staged activist propaganda. I have never witnessed it one time in my life and I have been farming for over 30 years. It is our goal to give the calves good care.
Are cows forcefully impregnated?
A cow in a “wild” setting will become pregnant every year and be bred more often. When a cow is in estrus, they want to be bred. We AI (artificially inseminate) the cow at a time when she would be very receptive to a bull. It is not forceful. Majority of them are so relaxed that they continue to eat while we do this. They are also 1500+ lbs and could kick the shit out of us if they were upset. The bulls are the forceful ones. Bulls do not care at all about how the cow is feeling & will take zero precautions against harming them unlike us. Our jerseys come into heat as young as 6 months old.. Do you think a bull would wait to breed them until they were a safer size?
Are they impregnated over and over?
A cow has just 1 calf a year with a 9 month gestation period. They have 1 calf every 12-14 months. We give them time off in between lactations for their health as well & do not rebreed them until they are ready (2+ months postpartum). A cow in poor health on a dairy will not breed back. A cow in the wild would actually become pregnant more frequently because they can start cycling almost immediately after birth. Bulls do not wait to breed cows like farmers do. Being pregnant is a cow’s entire biological goal. It is not an evil thing as the activists have made it out to be.
Is AI rape?
No. To even ask this or compare to it is disgusting. AI is a painless, quick, stress free veterinary procedure. We only AI cows when they are in a “standing heat” which means they would be very receptive to a bull. To even compare it to a crime punishable by prison time is revolting and makes a mockery of real victims.
Are cows exploited or enslaved?
No. Our cows spend about 20 min a day being milked & they enjoy it. That is their entire job. The rest of the time they are eating, sleeping, chewing cud or hanging with friends in comfort. They also get 2 months of vacation every year from being milked. It is called a dry period. If anything, cows exploit us. Imagine only having to work a few minutes a day while getting free housing, medical care, 24 hour buffet, room service, servants etc.?
Lifespan?
The natural lifespan of a dairy cow is not 20+ years as activists would have you believe. It varies greatly by breed just like with dogs. My oldest Holstein milk cow is 13. Her name is Grace. A dairy cow’s average lifespan in the US is 6-9 years and I have a lot of 9+ year old cows as well. In the wild, it would be much shorter.
Wild vs Domesticated?
Cows live much longer, healthier lives when taken care of by humans. We provide them with feed, water, medical care, housing, hygiene & safety. In the wild, majority would die off immediately. Even the smartest cow with the best possible instincts would still face a much more stressful & shorter life in the wild.
Selective breeding?
Selective breeding has made cows live longer, healthier lives. We can eliminate bad traits & genetic defects. It is not just done to increase milk production or make them more efficient.
Go outside?
Our cows do have outdoor access & can graze when there is grass. We don’t have it year around & nor is the weather nice year around. My cows spend majority of their time inside because it is more comfortable in the barn. It was designed to be as comfortable as possible. Fluffy dry bedding, 24/7 feed, fans, soakers, good ventilation etc.
Unnatural Diet?
A dairy cow’s natural diet is forage. We grow a lot of different crops to provide that. Our native grass would not sustain them. These animals are athletes and their diet reflects that. They do get to graze some when there is grass. We grow grasses & forages & then make them into silage so they have a year around supply of nutritious feed available 24 hours a day.
Do you kill the cows?
Dairy cows are a valuable resource & they can either provide milk or beef. When a cow is at the end of her natural lifespan, it is common to sell them to be made into beef & byproducts. Beef slaughter is incredibly humane in the US. The animals are never stressed or know what is coming. It is instant and painless because Temple Grandin has revolutionized the industry. When a cow is slaughtered, 99% of her body is used. Everything from makeup, plastics, tires, lubricants, cell phones, medicine, etc. are thanks to animal byproducts. It is better to honor the animal instead of letting their body go to waste.
ABOUT DAIRY FARMING:
Environment?
Cows are assigned an unfair amount of blame for climate change. Cows are a valuable resource & a necessary part of the world’s ecology. They convert inedible cellulose into valuable nutrition. My cows are fed a lot of waste products from people food like almond hulls, tomato pumice, soybean meal etc. I have even fed them old pickles & jalapenos that would have gone to a landfill before! Cows also provide the best fertilizer & are a part of the carbon cycle.
The GHG emissions in the US of all agriculture is only 9%. Beef and Dairy make up 3.6% of that. Transportation is 29% and Electricity is 31% (EPA 2016). Cows also emit methane which does not stay in the atmosphere forever like CO2 from fossil fuels. As long as cattle numbers don’t increase, the pollution will stay net negative & gradually decrease over time. Looking at the world’s cattle emissions also skews the numbers greatly because we are the most efficient country when it comes to production. India has over a billion cows (a lot of them old & inefficient) because the cows are never slaughtered. Our efficiency increases every year while our cattle numbers decrease. We are producing more with LESS. The US dairy industry has a goal of being net negative by 2050 & it is very feasible.
For more information, Check out Dr. Frank Mitlohner at the UC Davis CLEAR Center and follow him on Twitter @GHGGuru
Milk is not necessary?
No. milk is a valuable, natural, healthy, nutritious product. The plant based “milks” have to be fortified to even be somewhat comparable & none of them are anywhere close to being as healthy as cow’s milk. Plant based milks are not local or from family farms either. They are made by huge corporations because they are non perishable junk food with a large profit margin that they can mass produce & ship all over the country. There are some good reasons to skip the plant milks.
Antibiotics:
There are no antibiotics in milk. Every US dairy farm is highly regulated by FDA. Any cow being treated with antibiotics will get their milk dumped. All milk is tested multiple times before it enters the grocery store to ensure there is zero residue. You can read more about antibiotics in milk here
Hormones:
Milk (like all foods) does have naturally occurring hormones. It is from a lactating animal however the amount of estrogen is much, much lower than what’s in other plant-based foods. Milk has 2ng of estrogen per 8 oz. serving while 3oz serving of cabbage has 2,000ng, white bread has 136,080ng, tofu has 51,483,600ng, and soy flour has 342,468,000ng. You can read more here about hormones and milk here
Factory Farms:
The term “factory farm” is invalid. 98% of US dairies are family owned & ran. Just because a farm is large, does not mean it is a corporation. Farm size is also not an indication of animal welfare. How a farm is managed determines that. A farm can have issues at any size & there is also zero correlation between cow numbers and welfare. More about factory farms here
All about profit?
This is just an asinine question. People do not get rich from dairy farming. All profit is invested back into the farm. We work very hard to give exemplary care because it is the right thing to do. Yes, healthy animals are more profitable but that is not why we break our backs to take care of them! If being abusive was more profitable, we still would not do it because it is wrong. Dairy farming is not a lucrative profession to begin with either. We do it because it is an honor to provide people with food and byproducts and we just love cows. It can be a hard & stressful life at times. We do not get weekends off or vacations. Most of us live on the farm & are basically on call 24/7 even if we do find some downtime. It would be much easier to sell everything & work a simple 9-5 job. Some years, we do not make any profit. Did you know that there is a suicide hotline just for dairy farmers? It is very sad but true. I get a letter from the creamery I sell to every few months about mental health to remind me about it…
If you have any more questions feel free to leave a comment below.
Great explanations. I grew up on a dairy farm and it pains me to see the misleading and negative propaganda being disseminated by the ARAs. Keep up the good work.