With Mother’s Day just around the corner I think this is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of some of the most oppressed mothers in this world. The mothers who are forced to become mothers, just to have that privilege taken away from them. In case you haven’t guessed it by now I am talking about the mothers who fall victim every single day to the dairy industry: dairy cows.
Contrary to popular belief, cows do not produce milk all the time. In fact, they only produce milk during and after pregnancy (like every other mammal on this planet). The dairy industry therefore artificially inseminates cows on what the industry calls ‘rape racks’ (google it if you don’t believe me) in order for them to become pregnant (so that they start lactating). When they finally give birth to their babies after 9 long months of pregnancy, mother and calf are forcibly separated. This is due to the fact that any milk these babies consume is milk that the farmer cannot sell off to humans and consequently in their eyes: money wasted. The industry takes these babies from their mothers which is a very distressing and disturbing process for both mother and child. There are endless amounts of videos available showing mothers frantically trying to run after their babies, calling out for them as farmers heartlessly rip them away. This happens within the first few days of their lives, when the calves are most vulnerable and in need of nurturing.
If the calves are females, they will go down the same route as their mothers, which on factory farms means: having their legs chained, never seeing the light of day, being forcibly impregnated and constantly being attached to machines that extract the milk that is meant for their children. These poor females will either be pregnant or lactating for the majority of the year, every single year of their lives. Every baby these mothers give birth to will be taken from them; and when they are eventually unable to lactate as efficiently as they once could, these beautiful creatures will be slaughtered and their body parts sold for meat. In the wild, cows should live up to roughly 20 years old, however in the dairy industry they will be slaughtered at just 5 years old when they are deemed as ‘spent’. This means dairy cows only get to live about a quarter of their natural lives, if you can even call this constant cycle of oppression and abuse they are forced into ‘living’.
If the calves are male, they will be killed off extremely young and their body parts will be sold as ‘veal’. Because of their inability to produce milk, 95,000 male calves are shot every year as a by-product of dairy production. As well as this, there are endless environmental impacts that come from dairy farming including: deforestation, production of harmful gasses and huge amounts of water wastage. It is also extremely unhealthy for us as humans to consume growth milk that is meant for another species due to the amount of puss and hormones that cows milk contains. To put it very simply: cow’s milk is for baby cows, not for human beings (in the same way that human milk is meant for humans).
When there are so many plant-based alternatives out there to milk, cheese, ice cream and every other dairy product why are we still paying for animal abuse? This Mother’s Day I plead you to not celebrate the bond with your family by paying for the separation of another. Respect mothers this Mothering Sunday and opt for dairy- free alternatives.
Be Kind 
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