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❗Dairy production is humane and doesn't harm animals.
✅Facts:
- Dairy farming routinely involves practices that raise serious ethical concerns.
- In nearly all commercial dairy operations, calves are separated from their mothers within hours or days after birth to maximize milk production for human consumption.
- This early separation is highly stressful for both cow and calf, often resulting in prolonged vocalizations, signs of distress, and elevated cortisol levels.
- Male calves, who cannot produce milk and are considered less economically valuable, are frequently culled shortly after birth or sold into the veal industry, where they are confined and slaughtered at a young age.
- Female calves are typically raised to replace their mothers in the cycle of forced impregnation and milk extraction.
- To maintain high yields, dairy cows are impregnated annually, leading to physical strain, mastitis (a painful udder infection), and shortened lifespans — typically just 4–6 years compared to their natural lifespan of 20 years.
- These practices are standard in both conventional and many so-called 'humane' or 'organic' dairy farms, underscoring systemic welfare issues embedded in the dairy industry.