After watching a buncha kids chow down on cheese slices yesterday in the Park, we thought we’d reiterate a few reasons why feeding our children dairy is just absolutely disgusting – from a place of health, a place of compassion, and a place of basic human decency.
We’d like to acknowledge all the wonderful mothers out there, both human and animal. In particular and as a bit of a contrast, though, we’d like to highlight the plight of mother cows (via the always articulate Mary Max of Kind Green Planet. (RIP))
For a seemingly innocent glass of milk, chunk of cheese, container of yogurt, cheap hamburger, and white veal, female cows are forced to be mothers. That is, they are constantly impregnated so they will produce milk. (I bet you thought, like I used to, that they just naturally provide a never-ending supply!)
There are many problems with this, but I’ll mention just a few:
-Why should any female, human or non-human, be forced to be a baby-making machine? This is feminism 101!
-Once the mother cow gives birth, her baby is stolen from her. Could you imagine if this were done to a cat after birthing kittens or a dog after birthing puppies? Mother cows bellow for days looking for their babies.
-To add insult to injury, mother cows are then “hooked up” and milked. It’s cold and painful, not warm and nurturing as it would be if she were able to be with her young.
-Female cows endure this cycle for years until they are finally turned into cheap hamburger.
A few words about the stolen babies:
-Female calves never feel the warmth and love of their mothers as they are kept in a separate area, first raised on formula and then fed some sort of cheap feed until they are “ready” to be added to the baby-making/milk-producing system.
-Male calves are sent to veal farms where they are kept tethered in cramped, filthy, cold crates, and fed an anemic diet. Could you imagine this being done to a kitten or puppy? And all for the sake of “succulent white veal.”
Humans do not need to consume dairy to be healthy.
It actually makes us less healthy because the saturated fat clogs our arteries, and the acidic nature of its protein aggravates osteoporosis. Calcium can be found in many plant foods such as sesame seeds, leafy greens, and fortified juices and cereals. Contrary to popular opinion, protein can be found in all plant foods, but especially in beans, nuts, seeds, tofu, tempeh, and seitan.
Finally, we are the only species that drinks the milk from another species! I think we would find it bizarre if a giraffe drank the milk of a rhinoceros or a zebra drank the milk of a pig. Cows’ milk is meant for baby cows, not us! We have our mothers’ milk for a while and then that should be it. So, if you do consume dairy or eat hamburger or veal, please keep this in mind and perhaps choose to honor mother cows by not eating those things.
Farm Sanctuary recently uncovered the abusive conditions at a dairy farm.
Here is some of that footage. Please watch it – then open your hearts to change;