Help keep One Green Planet free and independent! Together we can ensure our platform remains a hub for empowering ideas committed to fighting for a sustainable, healthy, and compassionate world. Please support us in keeping our mission strong.
The industrialized animal agriculture industry spends tons of money on advertising and marketing campaigns in an attempt to mask the hellish reality that exists on factory farms. Not only do specific dairy producers and brands advertise, but thanks to checkoff programs, the government also pushes dairy on consumers with catchy advertising campaigns like the long-standing “Got Milk?” campaign. Scenes of healthy cows happily chewing their cud on wide expanses of open grassland give consumers the false impression of what actually occurs on industrialized dairy farms, but thanks to an image shared by Unparalleled Suffering Photography on Facebook, we see these contrived scenes could not be further from the truth.
The image shows endless rows of dairy cows lying motionless between metal bars. The floor is FLOODED with excrement and urine, the cows’ bodies are filthy, their tails have been cut, and their faces express nothing but misery and desperation.
This certainly is no idyllic pasture like the dairy industry wants us to believe! And, where are the calves? More than likely, they have been ripped away from their mothers right after birth so they can become veal or dairy cows and the milk made for them can be given to us. And the milking process adds even more suffering. Hooked up to milking machines, cows on industrialized dairy farms are overmilked to the point where the udders of many of them become infected and can lead to mastitis and blood and pus excretions, which, you guessed it, end up in the milk consumers drink. Additionally, many cows are administered hormones, which also end up in consumers’ bodies, and due to overcrowded and unhygienic environments, antibiotics are administered at alarming rates, giving rise to the worldwide epidemic of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Although many dairy farms have been losing their wholesale contracts and shutting down due to the rise in popularity of plant-based milks, dairy is still everywhere, from cheese and ice cream to other food products and even “health” supplements in the form of whey, casein, milk solids, and milk fat. And FAR too many people still believe the lies that dairy cows are happy cows with their babies by their sides who enjoy being milked by hand by compassionate farmers. So, PLEASE do your part to help dispel the dairy myths and SHARE this with everyone you know. Only through increased awareness will this type of gross suffering begin to become a thing of the past.
Image Source: Unparalleled Suffering Photography/Facebook
This article is based strictly on misinformation. First of all, the cows are not lying motionless. They have freedom to lie down, get up, and move about the barn as they choose. Cows just like to lie down to chew their cud when they aren\’t eating which is why they have rows of beds to lay on. (Many farms are now transitioning to the use of water beds for added comfort!) The metal bars are simply in place to separate cow from cow on the row of beds. They are not restrained whatsoever. As far as the manure goes, the picture does not show the mechanical scraper that continuously clears the aisle of feces and urine. The above photo was clearly taken before the next sweep, but rest assured the floor is cleaned regularly. That is just a standard dairy practice.
Tail docking was also mentioned in the caption. This is for the sake of hygiene and safety. Long tails can get caught on things around the barn and can also harbor bacteria and attract flies. The cows don\’t necessarily need long tails to swish flies because dairy barns are so well ventilated that bugs aren\’t an issue.
Also, to say that "their faces express nothing but misery and desperation" is nothing but anthropomorphism. Cows are not humans and do not express emotions like we do, so that is not even valid.
Milking is not cruel and does not harm the animals in any way. Most farmers milk cows twice per day, but on farms with robotic milking units (where the cow can be milked any time she chooses 24/7), they are sometimes milked up to three times per day. That is strictly the choice of the cow. If milking was so terrible, they wouldn\’t be milked any more than they had to be. Cows are checked for mastitis before every milking and treated if need be. When a cow is positive for mastitis, her milk is not sold, but regardless, all milk is pasteurized for safety.
I could go on, but I think that\’s enough for now. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion and I can respect people\’s choices to not consume animal products. I simply want to inform others of what it is really like on a farm, as someone with a background with large animals and agriculture.
really? think the cow prefers being forcefully inseminated? think she enjoys having her children forcibly removed, repeatedly? think she appreciates the fact that she gets murdered once she stops providing enough milk? they\’re not here for you to take advantage of and to try and justify your abhorrent behavior and attitude towards them.
when you say you have a background in animals and agriculture, what you mean is that you are part of an industry that sees them as a commodity, not loving, caring and affectionate beings.