We often think of the dairy industry as being exempt from the cruelty associated with animal agriculture. Most people assume that the process of milking a cow is completely humane and even natural, but when we take a closer look at the dairy industry, this hardly seems to be the case.

Cows can only produce milk if they have recently given birth, just like humans. However, milk produced by the mother cow in the dairy industry is never enjoyed by her baby because it is sold for human consumption. Moments after the calf is born, they are ripped away from their mother’s side. If the calf is a male, he will be sold to become veal. Female calves will either be raised to become dairy cows themselves or sold for meat if the farmer does not need more animals.

Cows are incredibly emotional and intelligent beings and they mourn the loss of their children just as bitterly as humans do. What makes matters worse is that dairy cows are often artificially inseminated four to five times in their lives, so they will continue to experience this pain and loss until the day they become too old to turn a profit and are sent to slaughter.

After seeing how heartbroken these mothers are after losing their babies, we can’t help but to question if the dairy industry is really as “humane” as we think it is.