By Staci-lee Sherwood
Dairy may be white gold for the farmers but the images of happy cows grazing in meadows while providing healthy food is just a myth. It’s more like white poison when you factor in its ill health effect on humans, the cruelty to calves and the contamination to drinking water. Agriculture is #1 for water usage and with that comes unsafe drinking water filled with antibiotics, hormones, pesticides and bodily waste. A milking cow drinks between 30 – 50 gallons of water per day. Water is also used to cool the milk, sanitize and clean equipment and cleaning barns using a flush system. Dairy farms use more water than other farms, a natural resource we cannot make and rarely conserve.
Dairy farmers sold the idea that their products were healthy. The USDA, little more than a lobby for the agriculture industry, came up with the food pyramid. They have enormous influence over budgets, laws and regulations. They are a big player on public land use including national parks where many have grazing cows despite the conflict of interest. In some parks the dairy cows out number the native endangered species as is the case in Point Reyes National Seashore and the Tule Elk. The National Park Service, Dept of Justice and the Dept of Agriculture are hoping to run out the clock on the elk to make more room for the dairy cows. Read more about that court case here https://www.realitycheckswithstacilee.com/post/the-tule-elk-hang-on-by-a-thread-while-insanity-reigns-over-point-reyes-national-seashore
The truth is diets filled with dairy, meat and eggs put so much stress on the kidneys they become overactive which depletes them of calcium. The affects of the American/western diet of saturated fat is seen in every hospital and walking down every main street. The US has an epidemic rate of obesity, which combined with high blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer and osteoporosis keeps the medical industry busy around the clock. Logic would say the wealthier the country the better quality the food. On appearance that may be true but studies show wealthier countries eat way more animal products than the body can handle and dairy is one of the main foods. They also tend to have the most diseases and health problems related to what they eat
Milk is for babies not adults
How did we ever get so hooked on the idea that milk was a healthy food for adults? This started long before the ‘Happy Cow’ advertising campaigns. Milk from any species, including our own, is only designed to be consumed by newborns for a short period. The high fat content is there to quickly fatten up the baby. Why would anyone think baby food was needed or appropriate for adults? If baby milk is so essential shouldn’t we just be consuming our own baby milk? That idea is abhorrent to most yet it poses the most important question that no one wants to answer or think about. That should tell you all you need to know about this industry of misrepresentation
We are the only species to consume the milk of other species and the only species to consume milk as adults. In countries with the highest consumption of dairy they also have the highest rate of Osteoporosis. This is one of the main diseases the dairy industry, farmers/lobbyists and all others getting a cut pushing this product, claim will help prevent. Science and the rare honest doctor will tell you that is a lie. Milk does NOT do a body go in fact it’s very harmful.
More than half of American cow milk drinkers are lactose intolerant. This is your body’s way of rejecting food that it can’t digest or use. Nature knows best regardless of what our taste buds might say. Dairy is loaded with saturated fat which clogs the arteries. This often leads to heart disease and eventually attacks. There are many studies done by Harvard, National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and the World Cancer Research Fund that show links between dairy consumption and cancer. Click here to see a few of those
Dairy cows are only seen as having value as long as they can produce milk. The more milk the more value. In order to get every drop of this white gold female dairy cows spend much of their lives hooked up to machines. When allowed to graze they are either separated from their calves or spend their time avoiding them since the calves are fitted with sharp spiked ‘calf weaners’ designed to inflict pain on the mother so she refuses to nurse.
Living machines
Standing in their own waste. Think the milk that comes from their bodies is all that hygienic when they live in deplorable filth? Would you want to stand in dirty water or be hooked up to metal machines squeezing all day long?
Not so sweet side of ice cream
What kid hasn’t grown up with ice cream, in a cone or as a cake? Baskin & Robbins is arguably one of the best tasting ice cream brands and one of the most famous. Ice cream’s sweetness hides a sinister industry of cruelty and an equally deadly affect on human health. John Robbins, heir to the ice cream empire is vegan. After growing up seeing the ugly cruel side of the industry behind the scenes he started looking for healthier ways to eat while studying the real effects of dairy on humans.
Diet for a new Anerica by John Robbins was a groundbreaking book, partly because of its author, and I highly recommend reading it. This is an important documentary that’s easy to follow and listen to based on the book which demystifies many lies the industry tells https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_jH4fUDWqo
Cheese addicts
One of the biggest reasons that vegetarians claim they can’t go vegan is cheese, or their addiction to cheese. Many a vegetarian has gone all the way to giving up meat but stop at dairy and specifically cheese. In 2015 a study came out with the claim that cheese is addictive in a way similar to drugs because of a chemical called casein, which is found in dairy products and can trigger the brain's opioid receptors from the study "Study Reveals that Cheese Triggers the Same Part of the Brain as Many Drugs".
Cheese contains casein, which is a dairy protein that when released can trigger a dopamine production in the brain. It’s thought this is what triggers the sense of addiction by encouraging people to keep eating cheese . Whether or not that’s true it sure seems addictive since people will add it to almost everything. Cheese also uses rennet which is an enzyme that comes from the stomach lining of calves in cheese making. Sir Paul McCartney once said “If Slaughterhouses had Glass Walls, Everyone Would be Vegetarian.” I’m guessing if people saw dairy farms and how cheese was made that might cure many of their addiction.
The myth of the happy Cow
We’ve all seen those commercials where a pleasant narrator talks about family farms, loving their animals and happy cows. How happy can any animal be in captivity even one with a meadow? The truth is while some dairy cows get to graze freely most are seen as little more than the machines they’re hooked up to milking them. A true happy cow would be one that nurses her calf, not one crying as she chases him down a dusty road in a truck bound for slaughter. The happy cow only lives in the minds of the advertising world where big bucks are doled out in exchange for a pretty fantasy to cover up the ugly truth.
The façade on display a rare sighting of a free roaming cow in a meadow
Farmers of pain
When I was in school we studied history. One of the more interesting aspects of human history are the innumerable ways we came up with to torture our own species. As we studied the various torture devices most of us were appalled at the lengths some people go to inflict pain. Many gasped at the thought of having to endure it themselves. Others wonder what type of person could do this and sleep at night.
For answers to those questions look no further than dairy farmers. They have no qualms about using spiked nose rings and mouth covers called ‘weaners’ on the calves to prevent them from nursing from their mothers. They don’t really love or care for their animals any more than they care for an old T-shirt. They think of the mother’s milk as their commodity to sell and see the nursing calf as ‘stealing’ their milk. This insidious philosophy is widespread among dairy farmers and is passed down from generation much the way religion is. Once someone makes a business exploiting animals no excuse is too outlandish or illogical for them.
This was posted on the Instagram page for wiscowsingal @crazycalflady from Jenna who works on a dairy farm in central Nebraska. She posts these photos of dressed up calves for who know what reasoning. Note a ‘feedlot calf’ is a young calf starting at about 3 weeks old sent to industrial feedlots to fatten up for a few months before being slaughtered. No amount of dress up can cover that up. Are her posts trying to make their short lives seem like that of a pet dog that is dressed up for Halloween?
“PS. This is Wendy, my feedlot calf “ as if there is humor in this industry.
Another dressed up calf. This is how dairy farmers see their animals as a cash commodity and entertainment. The calf would prefer mom over a dress
Jenna from Nebraska also defends using the veal crates though she sidesteps the real reason for these crates. She claims on her blog “A calf hutch is not only beneficial for the calf itself” but says it helps give them individual care. The calves have a chain around their neck and can barely stand so this is not for their benefit. Whenever someone goes to great lengths to sidestep an issue or come up with fanciful justifications for their actions it’s because deep down they know it’s wrong but are too weak to stop.
Exploiting animals is so ingrained even the Smithsonian backs up the industry with this telling statement published in their magazine ‘Weaning calves is a difficult process, but for many farmers and ranchers it’s a necessary part of the business. A mother cow who is nursing her infant calf could be taking energy away from a new one that might be gestating inside her, and for dairy farmers every drop of milk a calf suckles away means they have less product to sell.’ It always comes down to money and nothing else.
Nose rings sold on Amazon
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." ~ Albert Einstein
Imagine if we did this with human babies to stop them from nursing…this is how dairy calves are treated especially males in all countries. This is standard industry practice worldwide.
You won’t see this on those happy cows ads
Veal the other side of dairy
For male dairy calves they end up chained, living in small cages sometimes in the dark and milk fed. Ironic that milk fed veal calves are given a formula of milk instead of their mother’s milk. Once the calves are killed at about 6 months they become pricey ‘milk fed veal’. The male calf is removed from his mom within 24 hrs of birth. They have been filmed being thrown against the wall, kicked and stomped on….by the same type of farmers claiming to care for their animals. They’re kept confined preventing movement so their muscles stay soft and weak. This meat is sold at a higher price to consumers who think it’s healthier and a sign of wealth. In reality you merely pay more money for more cruelty and more saturated fat that in the end will make you sick. Female calves are allowed to nurse for a short time before getting the nose ring and rarely end up as veal.
Veal calves are newborn males living a short life of confinement like any prisoner. This is not done to give better care and is also standard industry practice on veal farms.
DAIRY IS ONLY HEALTHY TO THE DAIRY FARMER’S BANK ACCOUNT. EVERYTHING ELSE YOU’VE BEEN TOLD IS A LIE.
The next time you walk into an ice cream shop, reach for that carton of milk or plan on ordering veal think before you take that bite. Think about all the aspects of the industry from the contaminated water and animal abuse to high risk of making you sick. Maybe your taste buds shouldn’t be what you follow…
For the truth about the dairy industry click here for ‘Milked’
A landmark study about the benefits of plant based diet vs meat/dairy on Cancer