Shocking Video Exposes What a ‘Family’ Dairy Farm Really Looks Like

Mac and cheese is as American as apple pie and Santa always drinks milk with his cookies. Dairy products are a regular part of meal-time for most Americans, largely because people don’t stop and think about the perverse system that is required to put these seemingly harmless products on the shelves. It is all too easy to forget that our food does not start out in a plastic package, and in the case of dairy products, they go through an incredibly long and cruel process before they are neatly pressed into their brightly branded sheaths.

There is a common misconception that dairy cows need to be milked or they will be in incredible pain; this is false. Dairy cows are just like all other mammals – including humans – and they only produce milk when they have a baby to nurture. Sadly, to create dairy for human consumption, this means that mother cows never get to keep their babies. Typically, calves are taken from their mothers shortly after birth, the males are often sold as veal and the females are raised to fill their mother’s shoes. In either case, there is much suffering imbued in this industry.

However, many dairy farmers attempt to distract consumers from the cruelty inherent in the industry by claiming that their cows are raised on a “family farm.” The video above from We Animals, in collaboration with Decipher Images and Animal Equality, depicts the day to day life of milk cows and their babies on a “family farm” and the irony of this term is not lost on the narrator, Anna Pippus.

With so many dairy-free products available, there is no reason for this cruel system to remain in place. Not only is the system cruel, it is responsible massive amounts of carbon emissions, in addition to water pollution, every year. Together we can help create a better world for people, animals, and the environment alike.