Help us stop this: sign the petition Dairy Fact 2: Male Calves Born In The Dairy Industry Are Sent to Slaughter Just like humans, cows only produce milk for their babies. For this reason, once a cow is around 15 months of age, she is artificially impregnated – for the first time. Not only that, but the dairy industry is pushing our planet to its limits. Like all animal agriculture, it is a driving force behind species extinction, deforestation, water scarcity, land overuse and global antibiotic resistance. Producing a glass of dairy milk every day for a year needs land as large as the size of two tennis courts - that’s ten times the land needed for oat milk. The process of artificial insemination is distressing, as she is forced into a confined space where a farmer inserts an inseminating gun in her vagina to deposit sperm. While doing this, the farmer inserts one arm in the cow’s anus to manually manipulate her reproductive organs.

Cows on the Mooon (Cows in Action - book 11) : Cole First Cows on the Mooon (Cows in Action - book 11) : Cole

In 1975, a cow used for her milk produced around 4,100 litres of milk per year. Today a cow will produce double that amount: 8,200 litres of milk per year, which is an average of 22 litres per day. For the remainder of the year, most cows are confined in small sheds with no access to the outdoors. Here, these social and intelligent animals are not able to fulfil their needs and express their natural behaviours, causing them great distress. Stop cow and calf separation Dairy Fact 7: Mastitis and Lameness Are Common Health Issues that Cows Develop However, in dairy farms – whether small-scale, certified organic or intensive – the milk she produces will not be given to her baby, as it will instead be bottled up for human consumption. And so, her calf is separated from her and swapped for a milking machine which is attached to her teats. With 1 in 3 Brits now reported to be consuming plant-based milks on a regular basis, the nation is stepping away from supporting this industry. This is unsurprising, since the UK prides itself on being a nation of animal lovers and the world is all too aware of the climate catastrophe that is already rearing its ugly head.

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According to a 2020 report, every year in the UK an estimated 60,000 male calves– approximately 15% of all male calves born in the dairy industry – were shot on-farm. We should be able to trust the Government to use our taxpayer money wisely, but as a conscious consumer I am concerned that the Government is choosing to support an industry that is responsible for damaging our planet and taking mothers from their babies. This draining cycle of pregnancies, births and milk production is extremely hard on them, which is why often they develop severe diseases or physical ailments. Many die from these diseases or are killed as a result.

Cows In Action - Penguin Books UK

In a zero-graze system, a cow is not allowed to graze or be outdoors on the grass. Instead, she is fed silage (wet, fermented grass) and a high concentrate mix of cereal, soya, sunflower meal and maize. Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - However, while the shooting on-farm may have been banned by the majority of retailers and dairy producers, the fate of these innocent animals has not changed as they are still being killed.Due to increasing pressure from the public and animal welfare organisations, retailers have started to implement new rules to limit the killing of male calves, which were planned to come into force by the end of 2021. Shooting bull calves is potentially a massive own goal when we are talking about showing how great our industry is National Farmers (NFU) Union dairy chairman Michael Oakes (Jan, 2020) And some don’t even get six months outside. Because the industry is constantly looking for ways to increase profits, a new system – referred to as ‘zero-graze’ – has been introduced in the UK and it is being used more and more frequently.

Cows In Action Books - Goodreads Cows In Action Books - Goodreads

Dairy farming is responsible for suffering on a huge scale. Over 2.6 million cows are used for their milk every year in the UK. On every single one of the 8,000 UK dairy producers there is a cycle of suffering taking place. The dairy industry even admits that this practise is extremely problematic, calling it an ‘own goal’: This tragic fate has been defined by many as the ‘dairy’s dirty secret’ and long criticised by animal protection organisations, as well as the general public.

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