Dairy
Cows
Many farmers are
human beings who got caught in the industrialized
system, and they have no choice but to follow
the economic trends set by agrochemical corporations.
Since the lack of sensibility towards nature is
the real problem, our intention is not to blame,
but to make people aware of the needs of other
sentient beings, of the importance of respecting
them, and of their potential to switch to an ethical
lifestyle for the rest of their lives.
Cows are gifted
with intelligence and a unique sensibility. Because
they are patient, peaceful and docile creatures,
because they're never in a hurry, people tend
to assume they are stupid and don't recognize
they are there for their own purposes. They want
to take care of their calves, wander in the fields
eating the grass, and patiently follow the rhythm
of the Earth.
Life in the barns and modernization
of the dairy industry are not the best thing that
happened to them. Dairy cows can live up to 20-25
years. In today's stressing conditions, they are
considered lucky if they reach their fourth birthday.
This is because they are overexploited in the
new dairy industries. They are used for profit
as milk machines. They're raised, inseminated,
drugged, manipulated and their milk is sucked
out for only one purpose: dairy production at
the lowest costs. They have to be injected with
tranquilizers because they're nervous and hyperactive.
Their udders become so swollen that a calf couldn't
drink from it if it tried to, and could even damage
them.
Calves
Calves are taken away from
their mothers soon after they're born. Female
calves are raised to become dairy cows, while
something else awaits the males. They are sold
in auctions when they're only one day old. They're
terrified and almost unable to stand on their
legs, their umbilical cord is still attached to
them and they're bought to be raised for meat.
They have more or less four months to live, if
they don't die before, that is.
Most meat eaters
think the pale, whitish color and the soft texture
of the flesh come from a special sort of cow,
but this is not the case. The meat comes from
the male baby of dairy cows.
These calves are
confined in a box that refrains them from moving
and getting exercise (this is so that the meat
stays tender). They will never have the opportunity
to play or even to walk. Let's not forget that
these calves are babies that got taken away from
their mother and were immediately enclosed in
a box where they have no space to move. The more
weight they put on, the more impossible it gets
for them to make a move. Calves are force fed
on an anemia producing diet, so that their meat
becomes whitish-pink. This diet is purposely deficient
in iron and fiber. Calves have iron stocks in
their bodies, especially in hemoglobin in their
blood, with a smaller concentration in the liver,
the spleen and the marrow. During these four months,
their stock diminishes and their meat stays white
as they gain weight. Being deprived of iron, these
poor creatures would lick metal if they could.
To avoid that, the farmers made sure that calves
have no access to metal (nails for example). This
is why they're packed so tight and attached by
the neck. Because they become weak and likely
to catch diseases, they're drugged with medication.
Some of them won't manage to survive.
Today, because of
the way these animals are being treated, the question
of animal and dairy products consumption has a
new meaning. Never before has this decision been
so important.
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