Dear Dairy

As a culture, we acknowledge that in order to eat animal flesh, the animals must first be killed. Many individuals abstain from eating meat because they are ethically opposed to this killing; yet they continue consuming dairy products under the assumption that it is not necessary to slaughter animals for their milk and eggs. This is a common misconception. In reality, commercially raised milk- and egg-producing animals -- whether factory-farmed or free-range -- are slaughtered when their production rates decline.

Dairy Cows

In the Western U.S., dairy cows tend to be on feedlots, where they live outside year-round, but are free to walk around the lot. In the Midwestern U.S., cows are usually kept indoors for most, if not the entire year. Some are in "free-stall" barns where they can walk around. Others are in "tie-stall" barns as described in SFAP: In tie-stall barns, cows are tied in a stanchion and remain there much of the year; feeding and milking are done individually in the stanchion.

Dairy cows are housed in different situations. In the Western U.S., they tend to be on feedlots, where they live outside year-round, but are free to walk around the lot. In the Midwestern U.S. where it is cold, cows are usually kept indoors for most, if not the entire year. Some cows are in 'free-stall' barns where they are free to walk around the barn. Other cows are in 'tie-stall' barns as described in Scientific Farm Animal Production (1998), an animal agriculture textbook used at the University of Georgia: In tie-stall barns, cows are tied in a stanchion and remain there much of the year; feeding and milking are done individually in the stanchion.

USDA statistics show that in 1940, cows averaged 2.3 tons of milk per year. Despite large milk surpluses in the U.S., Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH) was approved in 1993 to further increase milk production. The 1997 average was 8.4 tons of milk per year. Some BGH treated cows have produced more than 30 tons of milk in a year (Associated Press, 9/20/96). This year, Canada banned the use of BGH, citing concerns for cow and human health; but BGH use continues in the U.S.

Dairy cows are milked for ten months, and then are “dry” for two months. They give birth at the end of the two month dry period, causing them to start producing milk again. However, their own calves are not given the milk; the milk goes to another species. Dairy cows are pushed to their physical limits. Some become crippled on the way to the slaughterhouses and they cannot walk off the truck. This can result in being dragged from the trucks by chains (The Down Side of Livestock Marketing video, Farm Sanctuary, footage from 1990).

Egg-laying Hens

In the egg industry, male chicks are often discarded in trash bags to suffocate or starve to death because they cannot produce enough meat to justify being raised for flesh. They are the lucky ones; as egg-laying females must live on wire floors that dig into their feet, in cages so tiny that they cannot stretch their wings, stacked in buildings filled with ammonia fumes from feces. The agribusiness person makes some extra money off the dairy cows' and egg-laying hens' carcasses. Even if there was no extra money, they would still be killed when their production rates declined because it would cost too much to feed the animals until their natural deaths.

For furthur resources on the dairy industry, check out Pete Singer's 'Animal Liberation' and 'Diet for a New America' by John Robbins. Websites: Vegan Outreach, Vegan Straight-Edge