From: abulsari@aton.abo.fi (A. Bulsari)
Newsgroups: rec.food.veg
Subject: The milk marketting fraud
Date: 9 Jan 93 09:38:50 GMT
Organization: Abo Akademi University

I got this from Michael Traub <traub@btcs.bt.co.uk> several months back.

This reproduces the contents of a leaflet  called "The Milk  Marketing
Fraud" available from the UK Vegan Society. It provides details of the
reality  behind dairy farming in the  UK. 

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In  order  to survive, the dairy industry perpetuates two myths. The first,
that  the  cow is relieved only of her surplus milk after the calf has been
satisfied.  The  second,  that  cow's  milk  is necessary for human health.
BOTH ARE UTTER NONSENSE.


RICH MILK ... POOR COW

So  that  UNNECESSARY health-risk foods like milk, cheese, cream and butter
can  be  provided  for the non-vegan market the calf is taken away from its
mother  just  days after birth, sometimes immediately. The cow is left with
nothing, yet she's expected to go on giving.

A  continual  flow  of  milk  is  extracted  from  the  dairy  cow  only by
subjecting  her  to  yearly  pregnancies,  the  first beginning at around 2
years  of  age,  each  lasting  nine months. After giving birth she will be
milked  for  10 months, but during the third month she will be put in calf.
Only  6-8  weeks  after  drying  out  she will give birth again. SO FOR 6-7
MONTHS EACH YEAR SHE IS MILKED WHILST PREGNANT.

As  one  of  3 million milk-machines in the UK she is likely to be yielding
up  an  unnatural  6000  litres  per year - 5 times as much as a cow in the
1950s.  Milked  twice, even three times a day, her full udder can weigh the
equivalent  of  50  bags  of  sugar;  in extreme cases it may even drag the
floor.  Her  unique stomach, designed for digesting grass, cannot cope with
the  vast  quantities  needed  for  such  high  output so in order to reach
higher  yields  she  is  also fed concentrated pellets of imported proteins
and home-grown cereal.

Even  then  her  production  may outstrip her appetite. In order to keep up
she  will  have  to  break  down  body tissue: she will be "milking off her
back".  The  result  can  be  one  of  many bovine disorders - ketosis - an
outstanding  problem  of  early lactation. Rumen acidosis, induced by large
helpings  of  quickly  fermented carbohydrate, is an important cause of the
foot  condition,  laminitis.  An  estimated 25% of all cows are treated for
lameness  each  year,  and all foot ailments are likely to be aggravated by
the  farm  environment,  where  large  herds  now  spend  longer periods on
concrete  with  their  hooves immersed in excrement. With 60-100 cows (in a
typical  herd)  each  producing  40  litres  of  slurry  per day a breeding
ground  is  quickly  established  for  udder  infections like mastitis, and
only  a  wide  range  of  antibiotics,  other drugs and dietary supplements
keep milk fever, staggers, liverfluke, lungworm and pneumonia in check.

THE  LONG  SUFFERING  DAIRY  COW  IS  BEING PUSHED TO HER LIMITS. EACH YEAR
OVER  20%  ARE CULLED FROM THE NATIONAL HERD DUE TO INFERTILITY, DISEASE OR
POOR  YIELD.  AFTER  4-5  CALVES  HAVE  BEEN TAKEN FROM HER SHE WILL END UP
BETWEEN  TWO  BITS  OF BREAD OR WRAPPED IN TIN. SO MUCH FOR THE PICTURES OF
CONTENTMENT.


AND WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CALF?

In  nature  the  calf  would  suckle for almost a year but nature, like the
calf,  is  denied  by the dairy industry. Some calves may be separated from
their  dams  on  the  first day of life; others might remain for just a few
days.  But  as  the  inevitable  by-products  of relentless milk production
each will have to endure one of several possible fates.

o	The  least  healthy  bobby  calves  will  be  sent  to market to be
	slaughtered  for  pet food; to provide veal for veal & ham pies; or
	for rennet to be extracted from their stomachs for cheesemaking.

o	Some  females  will  be  reared on milk substitutes to become dairy
	herd  replacements  and begin, at 18-24 months of age, the cycle of
	continual pregnancies.

o	Some  will  be  sold  at  market at 1-2 weeks of age for rearing as
	beef  in  fattening  pens  and  slaughtered  after 11 months, often
	without  sight  of  pasture.   Up  to 80% of the beef produced is a
	by-product of the dairy industry.

o	A  few  will be selected for rearing as bulls, spending their lives
	in  solitary  confinement  serving  canvas 'cows' and rubber tubes.
	Artificial  insemination  is  now  responsible  for  65-75%  of all
	conceptions in the dairy herd.
	
o	Around  270,000  unwanted  calves  are  reared  for  veal,  all but
	around  12%  of them spending their short miserable lives in narrow
	crates  (5'x2')  on  wooden  slats  and  without straw. Whilst some
	10,000  suffer  such  a  fate  in Britain the rest are exported for
	the  purpose.  In  solitary  confinement,  unable to turn around or
	groom  themselves  they must drink the only diet they are allowed -
	a  milk  substitute  gruel. Deliberately kept short of the iron and
	fibre  which  would redden their fashionably white flesh, they will
	suffer  from  sub-clinical anaemia and gnaw at the crates and their
	own  hair  for the roughage they crave. Fed large doses of hormones
	and  antibiotics  to  promote  growth  and  prevent  the  onset  of
	infections  caused  by the stress of confinement abnd malnutrition,
	they    will   suffer   scours,   pneumonia,   diarrhoea,   vitamin
	deficiency,  ringworm,  ulcers  or  septicaemia.  After  14  weeks,
	barely  able  to  walk,  they  are  taken  over  long  distances to
	slaughter, many end up on hotel dinner plates back in Britain.

>From  the  Brambell  Commitee  of  1965 to the Agriculture Committee of the
House  of  Commons  in  1981 every committe that has looked into the matter
has agreed that the veal crate should be banned.

BUT  IT  IS  JUST  PART OF A CALLOUS SYSTEM THAT CASTS OFF YOUNG ANIMALS IN
ORDER  TO  PRODUCE  A  COMMODITY, COW'S MILK, THAT NO-ONE NEEDS, NO-ONE BUT
THE CALF.


DAIRY HARM

Over  170,000  calves  die  each year before they are three months old, due
largely to neglectful husbandry and appaling treatment at markets.

Cow's  milk  is  for  calves but hardly any calf gets to drink it. It's put
in  cartons  and bottles instead, for only humans steal the milk of another
species and base an industry on the needless theft.



Enquirer's Pack

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[addendum to leaflet]

Please  note:  The  veal  crate  is now banned in Britain, however, 350,000
week  old  calves are exported each year across the Channel to be raised in
veal crates in France or Holland where it has yet to be banned.

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