Do cows need to be milked? If you're looking for a crystal clear answer to this question, you've come to the right place! In the past, I also honestly always assumed that the udders of dairy cows would burst without our help. I thought that we were doing something good for the cow and relieving her of a burden. Today, however, I know that we are imposing this burden on her ourselves. And that we humans do not milk her because we are so kind-hearted.
In this article I would like to show you briefly and concisely why cows are really milked. Feel free to use this knowledge to always have the facts on your side in discussions about animal-friendly, vegan diets. Let's go!
Do cows have to be milked because otherwise their udders will burst?
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That cows must be milked because otherwise their udders will burst is a fallacy that the dairy industry tells us. drilled into our heads over many decades through targeted marketing. has. An excessively bulging udder may cause painful inflammation, but it would not burst. So possibly bursting udders are not an argument for continuing to consume cow's milk.
Rather, we should realize that the udders of so-called dairy cows do not simply fill themselves. Indeed, they only give milk when they have given birth to a calf and have to feed their offspring. So the prerequisite for cow's milk or cheese, yogurt and other cow's milk-based foods is that cows are pregnant.
To ensure that this is the case as often and for as long as possible, dairy cows are artificially impregnated with bull semen by reaching into the exit opening of the intestine. Possible pain or inflammation of the udder are therefore exclusively a consequence of our interaction with cows and not natural. Cows have to suffer only because people we want to have as much as possible of their milk. So we do absolutely nothing good for the animals when we milk them, but exploit them.
Good to know: The term "dairy cow" is a typical Euphemism for animal products. It is a cow to which we humans have assigned the purpose of producing milk for us. The word glosses over the unpleasant situation that cows have to be impregnated by human hands and also suggests that cows would be screwed without the human milking process.
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The life of a dairy cow is brutal even away from the milking process
In order for dairy cows to produce much more milk than would actually be necessary for their calf, the animals are also Bred for maximum milk yield. In the middle of the 20th century, a dairy cow still pressed an average of 2,349 liters out of its udders - in 2021, it was well over three times that amount at 8,500 liters.₁
Today's dairy cow is trimmed for high performance, so that she thus produces about 28 liters of milk a day. In this calculation, I have even already taken into account that due to milking breaks (a few weeks, about 10 months after the birth of the offspring) she "only" gives milk on about 305 days a year.₂.
Calves, by the way, see precious little of the mother cow's milk, because they are Heartbreakingly separated from each other less than 48 hours after birth instead. Instead, they are given breast milk substitutes made from powdered milk so that they don't drink away our milk. Female calves are threatened with the fate of their mothers. And male calves are even threatened with death, as they do not give milk and are not suitable for the brutal dairy industry are uneconomical. This is the only reason why veal is on many menus at all.
And when their mother after a maximum of 6 years from exhaustion can no longer give milk, it is also uneconomical and is killed. From the fact that no animals die for milkTherefore, there can be no question of this happening.
A question to ponder, which I have also asked myself: How would you feel if you came into the world for a purpose predetermined by strangers and were already pre-programmed to face a cruel life with much suffering and ultimately even early death?
Notice: As a result of industrial Factory farming incidentally, milk from cows usually contains small residues of antibiotics, pus or feces. Such Pollutants in animal products are another reason to reconsider the consumption of dairy products.
A natural cow does not need to be milked
At the maximum, high-performance cows must be milked to protect them from inflammation. But such risks exist only because we humans predetermine their lives and rape them (by definition). We are not merciful or kind, but cruel and exploitative.
What we are doing to the cows is Speciesism and morally unjustifiable - not by taste, not by natural reproductive instinct, and not by tradition. Future generations will look with disgust at what we have done to animals.
"Animal protection is education to humanity."
Albert Schweitzer (more at Animal welfare quotes)
The suffering of animals ultimately arises only because we humans buy cow's milk and other dairy products. I think I could already give you some good reasons here, why vegan:inside do not drink milk.
But if you're still thirsty for cow's milk, ask yourself this one final question: Why are you still drinking the breast milk of another species at your agealthough there are so many delicious with rice, oat, almond or soy milk, Vegetable milk alternatives in every supermarket?
Do you have any questions or your own experiences with the argument "cows need to be milked so their udders don't burst" that you'd like to share? Then just write me a comment.
Be always kind to animals,
PS: Be sure to check out these vegan documentaries to learn more about factory farming and plant-based diets. A powerful, continuing and eye-opening documentary on milk, for example, is "The Milk System."
References:
₁ German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL): Rinderhaltung in Deutschland, available at https://www.bmel-statistik.de/landwirtschaft/tierhaltung/rinderhaltung. [31.07.2023].
₂ A. Deter: How much milk does a cow give (as of 07/29/2019), available at https://www.topagrar.com/mediathek/fotos/rind/wieviel-milch-gibt-eine-kuh-11667503.html. [31.07.2023].
