I Kicked My Life Long Addiction to Cows Milk and Why You Should Too
SEASON 3 – EPISODE 8 – I Kicked My Life Long Addiction to Cows Milk and Why You Should Too
Cows in dairy production are forced to become pregnant through artificial insemination nearly every year of their lives, starting at 10 months old, cows, like all mammals, begin to make milk when they give birth after 9 months of pregnancy.
Calves are then typically taken away from their mothers shortly after birth, male calves are castrated and separated from the females, so that they can be fattened up or sold for beef production, and females begin the same work as their mothers once they themselves reach ‘puberty” after 10 months.
After their calves have been taken away, mother cows are hooked up to milking machines two or more times a day. After 4 or 5 years of this cycle, and 3 to 4 insemination pregnancies, cows in the dairy industry are slaughtered because their bodies are “spent.” That is the life of a dairy cow.
The male calfs don’t actually do quite so well, after having their bollocks removed they are generally slaughtered aged about 18 months, although the lucky ones, the ones raised lovingly by burger king are fed lemon grass in the last four months of their lives, so that they don’t fart as much.