Capable of living 20 years, most dairy cows are killed at 4-8 years old, and meat cattle are killed at 18 months
Graphic content deliberately avoided. Please click here to view reality for cattle.
On dairy farms cows are forcefully impregnated every year to keep the milk flowing. This is usually through artificial insemination wherein workers insert their arm into the cow’s anus to hold her cervix in place while injecting her with semen collected from a bull. Another word for this is rape.
The male calves are considered useless to the dairy industry because they’ll never be able to produce milk. They are kept isolated for five days before being herded onto a truck, and sent either to a saleyard first, or direct to the slaughterhouse. Around 700,000 male calves are slaughtered as waste products of the dairy industry every year in Australia alone.
Calves are taken away from their mothers hours after being born so that the milk intended for them can be collected and sold for human consumption. The calves are fed powdered milk substitute. Over the days following calf separation, the mothers bellow day and night, searching for their calves. They’re known to grieve for days or even weeks. [Dominion]
