There are a lot of reasons to ditch dairy. Here are just a few:
1. Dairy tears apart families.
Newborn calves are typically taken away from their mothers within hours of birth. After forcible separation from their calves, cows often bellow for hours or even days, pacing and searching for them.
2. Male calves are killed for veal.
Because male calves don’t produce milk, they’re of no use to dairy farms and are often sold for veal production. Veal is a direct by-product of the dairy industry.
3. Painful mutilations.
Dehorning and tail docking are two mutilations performed daily on dairy farms. These cruel acts are carried out without anesthesia. Because of the filthy conditions, they often result in infection.
4. Constant abuse.
Like animals on all factory farms, cows used for dairy are treated like objects — milk-making machines, not living, feeling beings. This means they’re regularly abused and mistreated. In fact, a report found that one in four dairy farms in British Columbia failed to comply with animal welfare codes over an 18-month period.
5. Unnatural lifespan.
While their natural lifespan is 25 years, cows raised on dairy factory farms become so physically exhausted that they’re often slaughtered after only a few years. Once they’re considered “spent,” dairy cows are often brutally prodded, beaten, and even dragged before being slaughtered and processed into ground beef.
6. Environmental destruction.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, carbon dioxide emissions from raising farmed animals make up about 15 percent of global human-induced emissions, with beef and milk production as the leading culprit. In addition, the U.S. dairy industry has a record of egregious water pollution, with animal excrement and other agricultural runoff from large-scale farms already polluting nearly one-third of the nation’s rivers.
Thankfully, since 1970, cow’s milk consumption has fallen a whopping 40 percent in the U.S. while sales of nondairy milk alternatives have soared by 30 percent since 2011.
You can join the millions ditching dairy by switching to a compassionate vegan diet.
Visit ChooseVeg.com for recipes and tips on transitioning.