Visit to a Dairy Farm
VISIT TO DAIRY FARM I visited a dairy farm located on Route 2 about 20 miles north of Burlington, VT. The dairy owns about 150 cows and supplies all its milk to Ben and Jerry for ice cream. Ben and Jerry Company is considered to be an ethical company in the dairy industry. I do not know whether they owned the dairy or not. Here is the summary of what I saw and learnt: It was milking time (5:00 p.m.) and the machine was milking the cow at 3.5 minutes per cow, without regard to how hard it was on the cow.
It was extremely difficult for me to watch the cows' sufferings during the milking. To extract the last drop of milk, sometimes traces of blood got mixed with the milk.
Every morning hormones are injected into the cows to increase their milk yields. Since cows produce the most milk during and after pregnancy, they are kept pregnant for their entire fertile life through artificial insemination.
The pregnant cow delivers a baby after nine months (same as human does). If a male calf, of no use to the dairy industry, is born, he is shipped to the veal industry within two or three days of birth. The evening I was there, the farm was shipping three baby calves in a truck to a veal factory. The mother cows were crying when their babies were separated from them. I cannot forget the scene and can still hear the cries of the mother cows.
The veal industry is the most cruel meat industry in the world. It produces very tender meat for delicacy meal. The baby calves are raised in the darkness in a very confining crate, which allows practically no movements, and are fed an iron-deficient diet. This way the meat stays very tender and properly textured. They slaughter the baby calves after six months. There is enough literature available about the cruelty in the veal industry.
Within two months of delivery, the cows are made pregnant again. I did not have the stamina to watch the
It was extremely difficult for me to watch the cows' sufferings during the milking. To extract the last drop of milk, sometimes traces of blood got mixed with the milk.
Every morning hormones are injected into the cows to increase their milk yields. Since cows produce the most milk during and after pregnancy, they are kept pregnant for their entire fertile life through artificial insemination.
The pregnant cow delivers a baby after nine months (same as human does). If a male calf, of no use to the dairy industry, is born, he is shipped to the veal industry within two or three days of birth. The evening I was there, the farm was shipping three baby calves in a truck to a veal factory. The mother cows were crying when their babies were separated from them. I cannot forget the scene and can still hear the cries of the mother cows.
The veal industry is the most cruel meat industry in the world. It produces very tender meat for delicacy meal. The baby calves are raised in the darkness in a very confining crate, which allows practically no movements, and are fed an iron-deficient diet. This way the meat stays very tender and properly textured. They slaughter the baby calves after six months. There is enough literature available about the cruelty in the veal industry.
Within two months of delivery, the cows are made pregnant again. I did not have the stamina to watch the