Cow's milk, seriously?!?!?!?

Question

How is COW'S milk natural for human beings? I mean cows are cows right and humans are humans so why is it that humans find it necissary to consume the milk of a cow? I mean I don't see cats going around trying to get milk from cows, and well actually I don't see any other animal going around looking for milk expecially from other animals! Animals know to get milk from there mothers so why do we still not understand that humans don't need milk from cows. I mean we have all these things like breast milk and soy milk, so why do we still give our babies cow milk and still drink it as adults when no other animal does so?

Answer 1

Humans are the only animals that drink the breast milk of another animal. Truthfully, the only good thing about cow's milk is that it's a good source of calcium. Actually, it's pretty much the same as other animal's milk, such as buffalo's milk and stuff, but it's cheaper for farmers to produce. Milk is disgusting, and in factory farms the machines they use to milk the cows infects the udders so that there's freaking PUS in the milk. Pasteurizing the milk gets rid of the bacteria, but not the gross pus and stuff. The only reason people drink milk is because the government advertises it all over the place, such as in schools and magazines. I completely agree with you that it's gross, and it would make more sense to just drink your mom's breast milk than cow milk, honestly.

Answer 2

The idea originally came to be because some Mothers were unable to breast feed there little baby  so a replacement was chosen and it happens to be the cow!  Dairy companies sprung up and exaggerated the need for cow's milk!    I wasn't breast feed when I was a baby.. I was fed cows milk,

my Mom had problems with her b*****s but I didn't ask what they were!    You're right cow's milk is unnecessary.   There are other milks,  Soya milk,  Rice milk,  Coconut milk !

They should've chosen one of these for the replacement of breast milk  not cows milk!

I like coconut milk the best!

Answer 3

I totally agree.  Cow milk is only meant for baby cows.  You wouldn't give breast milk to a cow so why give cows milk to a baby. I think that people think it is really healthy but it isn't.  There are so many healthy alternatives to cows milk.  I drink rice milk because I am a vegan.

Answer 4

Because we can.

If other animals on this planet had the capacity to milk other species, then I guarantee they would be doing so.

You might as well ask why we eat honey from bees, or eat other animals for food. We do it because we can. It's why we're still at the top of the food chain.

Answer 5

I was watching an episode of The F Word. And there was this segment on a low-fat alternative to cow's milk --- horse's milk.

Ramsay made a rice pudding using the horse milk.

Answer 6

Humans are animals therefore everything we do is natural. Unusual and unnatural are not the same thing. Plenty of other adult animals drink milk and not only of their own species. Cats very readily drink cow's milk. Adult dogs suck at goat t***s on farms. Unnatural no. Unusual yes. Some cats will nurse puppies. Some dogs will nurse kittens. All is nature at it's finest. Nature isn't a set of rules you determine. Nature is everything. Animal activity is part of nature and human are animals.

The only reason you feel the way you do is because you, personally, don't want humans to drink cow's milk. So you call it "unnatural".

"when no other animal does so?/"No other animal continues to consume milk after it is weaned."--completely inaccurate.

"Why is everyone saying I think its unnatural because I don't like it. Its unnatural cause were humans and they're cows..."--because of your erroneous statement "when no other animal does so". You are mistaken on that point and you are mistaken on exactly what nature is. It is EVERYTHING, not just the portions you decide it is or isn't.

Answer 7

Because I LOVE it!!!  Plus a great source of calcium.  But, mostly cause it is good stuff!!

Plus, it certainly doesn't hurt the cow.

Answer 8

Would you rather drink breast milk?.... that just sounds revolting. We eat anything edible if you think about it (as humans.. not individuals). People in different continents eat bugs, some people eat animals, and others like milk. It's nutritious. This is a reason. Some people drink goats milk. Should we be eating humans instead of plants/animals?... I mean it's other creatures. We drink the milk because that is the way we were raised... and women aren't like cows... we can't produce milk 24/7

(I'm not trying to be mean)

and i do see your point

Answer 9

Because cow's milk is plentiful.  Human milk is not.

Cows are kept in a constant state of fertilization, in order to produce...well, more cows.  So they're always pregnant, or ready to become pregnant.  This is what makes them useful, watch any documentary on a dairy farm and you'll see what I mean - otherwise, they're soon to become hamburger.

Most female humans prefer not to live in a state of constant pregnancy.

And drinking it as adults?  Well, it's still a good source of calcium and vitamin D, even if it's not "natural" to drink it.

Answer 10

I was an ovo lacto vegetarian for years before I went vegan so I understand why people consume dairy milk. Most foods are not 'natural' for humans though.

1. It's very nutrient dense, and a convenient source of calcium

2. People have been drinking it for years.

3. It's versatile- used in baking, etc.

Even though I no longer consume it myself I cannot deny that dairy milk does provide nutrition.

If somebody wants to drink dairy milk, it's up to them. Live and let live.

Answer 11

I've thought about this a lot myself and have come to the conclusion that humans are just greedy. We have the highest intellegence out of all the animal species and therefore the highest expectations - to do and consume things that we don't even need or come naturally.

I've seen those newspaper articles about puppies nursing kittens etc, and obviously the mother either didn't want to nurse them or couldn't so they went for the next best thing. Either that or the "adopted mother" lost one of it's own young and used the other animal near by as a substitue.

However, my point being is that humans are the only species who take cows milk for this reason - greed.

Answer 12

Hey I am vegan, so I agree with you 100%. thanks for your views. I agree.

Answer 13

Yeah, we know that strangers' breast is meant for her baby.

We also know that it is obviously unnatural to drink from other species.

Scientists knew this nearly 50 years ago, but had no socially-tactful way to transmit this information to the lay person.

But, we just need sometimes for "transition" period, introduction of varieties, alternatives, information, education, govt policies and supply demand.

The time is not far away.

Answer 14

I totally agree with you. Aside from the cruelty and pain inflicted upon cows and calves, the environmental stress of dairy production, and the worrying hormone antibiotic and chemical use. The whole concept of consuming another species' milk is rather contradictory.

No other species contiues to consume milk of any sort after infancy and no other animals consume the milk of another species. Human infants, like other mammals, receive nourishment from mother's milk. Infants have an enzyme that allows milk sugar, lactose to be digested. In Most humans the manufacture of the lactase enzyme is "turned off" after weaning.

Also, most human populations were not orginally lactose tolerant. Between 30 and 50 million Americans are lactose intolerant and certain ethnic and racial populations are more affected than others. Up to 80 percent of African Americans, 80 to 100 percent of American Indians, and 90 to 100 percent of Asian Americans are lactose intolerant. The condition is least common among people of northern European descent. Lactose tolerance was an evolutionary mutation that orginated in Western Europe. Many people continue to suffer the symptoms of lactose intolerance, but are unaware since they have grown up consuming all sorts of dairy products. Only when they stop consuming them do they realise the cause of many digestive problems.

So to me it seems logical that we don't need dairy. Milk is produced by mammals of all species to nurture and feed its young, not to feed another species. In effect we are taking food from calves, the milk was intended for calves not us.

We don't need milk when there are healthier, more environmentally sustainable, less cruel and tastier alternatives like soy, almond, rice milk. I don't know about you, but this sure doesn't look appealing to me. http://photo.net/photo/pcd4554/cow-udder...

Answer 15

Can you point exactly where it says milk is "natural"? Or who says it is "natural". Milk is classified as "food" no more, no less. As processed a food as any consumed "naturally" by vegetarians  A good example of this would be bean curd more popularly know as "tofu". So are yeast flakes or as simple as cooked vegetables because I am sure you will never see any herbivorous animal cook their food either.

Adult cats are lactose intolerant that's why you don't see them as you described. But did you see the recent news of an abandoned  red panda "adopted" and nursed by a domestic cat. As for need, that's a matter of opinion , taste and circumstance. People don't need tofu or mock meats either but they do anyway. What's the difference?

Answer 16

How is goat's milk natural for humans?  My girlfriend drinks it all the time.  Farmers have been drinking and using cows/goats'  milk for many things for many years.  If you don't like it, don't drink it.  I like soy milk, myself, but there is nothing wrong with others who don't follow your beliefs in this.  What would we do with all the milk in the stores if we had it your way?

Answer 17

By this logic, why do we eat anything?  Who decided it was "natural" to eat that apple over there?  Why is normal that we eat peas and beans, but not alfalfa (mature plants, that is)? Since they are all related, shouldn't we eat all of the plants from that class?

The bottom line, as others have said, is that cow's milk was discovered thousands of years ago by intelligent people to be a nutritious, bountiful, and SUSTAINABLE food source.  You can eat cheese all winter long when the snow is 20 feet deep and the wind howls outside your animal skin hut, but you won't be planting any tomatoes or stringing up pole beans.  People don't drink animal milk because we are dumb; rather quite the opposite, because we are smart enough to know how to make use of things around us for our betterment.

Answer 18

Okay first off, I am a vegan and I 100% completely agree with you! :)

And to everyone who says that dairy cows produce milk 24/7 naturally, this is far from the case. The only way females can produce milk is when they are pregnant. Do women produce milk 24/7? No, only when they are pregnant. This is the same with cows. And just like women, the milk that cow's produce is for their children, and their children only. HOWEVER, since the point of impregnating dairy cows is to recieve milk for us, the baby cow does not get the milk. Instead, the baby cow gets shipped of to a veal farm to be made into veal. If it is a female baby then it will stay and be raised to have the same life its mother had. So basically the cow is pregnant with her child and makes milk for her child, but her child gets taken away from her when it is 2 days old, and we consume the milk meant for the baby cow. Does this sound fair to you?

On top of this, dairy cows have a tough life. They have to milk 10 months out of the year and vacation for only 2. That's hard work! Imagine pumping milk every single day for 10 months straight. Yikes! And sometimes that cows get an infection called Mastitis from the milking machines. The workers will put antibiotics on their t***s to prevent this, but sometimes they don't do a good job, or even skip it all together. So let's review the dairy cows life: get pregnant, pump milk everyday for 10 months, get baby taken away at 2 days old, give its baby's milk to us humans. Honky275 stated that if they weren't a dairy cow they would be destined to be made into a hamburger. I got bad news for ya, buddy! Dairy cows are slaughtered once they are old and useless and can't produce anymore milk...usually around age 5. Did I mention cows can live to be from 12-15 years old in the wild?

I seriously think there is something VERY wrong with this picture. And another thing is we are adults and still drinking milk. If you look at every other animal in the animal kingdom you will see that they stop drinking milk when they are a baby. We continue drinking it all our lives. And sure, we've been doing it for hundreds of years, but today's dairy industry is absolutely revolting. The average cow in the wild produces 2,000 gallons of milk a year. But thanks to plenty of hormones and chemicals, the average cow in the dairy industry produces 50,000 a year. Steroids, much? I don't know anybody that would want to put all those hormones in their body.

Anyways the solution to our problem is soy milk, rice milk, cocunut milk and many others. If people are drinking milk for the taste, they should move onto "milk" made from plants. Sure cow's milk has vitamin D and calcium and all that stuff, but so does soy milk! All the nutrients and vitamins from cow's milk can be found in soy milk and all the other replacements.

Anyways I am 100% backing you up on this, and I hope I helped :)

P.S. To people who give thumbs down because you don't like people's opinions, that's called immaturity.

Answer 19

No argument here, buddy.

Although one correction.  The barn cats at a dairy are VERY interested in the milk from cows.  You'll find them lapping up all of the spills.

Answer 20

This is a question that is similar to the animal cracker question.  Versions are posted weekly.  

I like the taste of milk, it is good for me and I will strenuously fight to retain the right to drink milk.  You do not have to.

Answer 21

You don't know what you're talking about.

This is completely natural:

http://www.elitesavers.com/funny/1suck.j...

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LOL, quite a few idiots are too lazy to click the link and detect SARCASM. =P

Answer 22

I feel ya'.

It isn't natural. No other animal continues to consume milk after it is weaned.