Wednesday 3 November 2010

Think about this when you drink your next glass of milk

We go by everyday consuming food not being aware of what it takes to produce that piece of cheese or that glass of milk. What goes on in a dairy industry is away from many peoples general awareness, it's a ugly ugly industry and dairy farms are generally a very depressing place to be.

I spent the last 3 days working on an organic dairy farm, 200 cows cross bred between the holstein and freesia, this create a breed that is able to produce up to 7000 liters of milk a year from one cow! These cows are not the work of nature but a manipulation of humans growing demand for milk and milk related products, and the ultimate victims are the cows themselves. Most cows have lots of trouble carrying their huge udders around something whic was bred into them, they're more prone to injury due to the disproportionate body frames, many sprained ankles, tumor on legs and broken backs. They don't lead a particularly good life being forced through the milk production line twice a day they hardly ever get time out at the fields. The calves spend their first 4 days with the mother and are weaned off, this cause great stress for both calf and mother. The cows kept in a concrete floored barn literally swim in their own piss and poo.

I'm depressed, and very saddened by this whole experience, but very glad I was able to see and work for a couple of days in this dairy farm. If I do consider to continue drinking milk in the future I will be more aware of where my milk comes from before buying, but i'm leaning towards dropping dairy from my diet altogether.

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