Does it hurt the cow to milk it. .why is milk bad.?

Question

Does it hurt the cow to milk it. .why is milk bad.?

Answer 1

Quite the opposite it gives cows relief when milked and they seem to enjoy it , Is milk bad ???

Answer 2

Hang on I'll ask the wife....

Answer 3

it hurts when they milk them 24/7 in factories and feed them rubis, but if you went out and bought a cow/ or got free ranged milk... no it would be fine

Answer 4

Milk contributes to unnecessary death and suffering. Just like humans cows only lactate a few months after birth. For cows to produce a constant supply of milk they must be continually artificially inseminated and give birth. Their babies are taken away from them soon after they are born. If they are male they will be trapped in veal crates, fed an anaemic diet and confined in darkness and eventually killed. If they are female they will go on to also be dairy cows (or more correctly milk machines). This separation causes distress to both mother and calf. Drinking milk supports the veal industry. Cows are also pumped with hormones and antibiotics to increase milk production. This often leads to mastitius, a painful infection of the udders. Constant milk production leaches calcium from cow's bones leaving them eventually lame or crippled. Milk is produced to nourish calves, not human. We are essentially stealing nutrients from baby animals.

Also, dairy production places massive environmental stresses on the planet. Each dairy cow produces 28,000L of waste water per cow per year (dairy shed effluent management guidelines Aust). This waste water comes from processing, runnoff, urine, yard and equipment washdown, plate cooling. It is a rather conservative estimate too, since it doesn't include the water required for feed or crop irrigation, or the water consumed by each head of cattle.

Cows produce between 250 to 500L of methane per cow per day (journal of animal science). Methane is a green house gas that contributes to global warming. Methane is also 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide. (new york times)

Dairy production requires waste lagoons for storing large volumes of untreated excrement and liquid waste. This waste has the potential to run off and pollute streams, ground water, soil, plants ect.

Answer 5

no it does not hurt the cow to milk it.. I have milked a cow

before, but they have machines to do it now..

and Milk is a good source of calcium and it is not bad.

Answer 6

The Modern Dairy Industry

Modern dairy farming has become an intensive industry. To produce maximum milk yields, dairy cows are pushed to their physiological limits through a combination of selective breeding, high-protein feeds, and the latest technology. Along with the production of pigs, chickens and eggs, milk production has become just another factory farm operation.

Specialist breeds of dairy cow suited to local conditions have largely disappeared from our countryside. The high yielding and highly bred Holstein-Friesian, the ubiquitous black and white cow, now makes up 90% of the European's (EU) dairy herd. Herd sizes have increased as dairy production has become concentrated on fewer and fewer farms. [1]

Milk yields have increased dramatically. In the 1940's, cows were producing an average of 3,000 litres of milk per cow per year. By 1983/84, average milk yields had increased to 4,940 litres, and by 1995, over 6,300 litres per cow per year were being achieved. [2] The strain of higher milk yield can lead to serious welfare problems such as increased mastitis, lameness, and infertility [3]. The average milking life of a cow has steadily decreased. A cow's natural lifespan could be 25 years. Most modern dairy cows are sent for slaughter at about 5 years old, after only three or four lactations. [4]

As the UK Government's own welfare advisory body puts it: "Forcing a cow to produce excessively high quantities of milk and thereby causing metabolic stress which leads to early culling is also an important welfare issue." [5]

Distress to Young Calf & Mother

The harsh reality is that to produce milk, a cow must have a calf. To maximise production, each calf is taken from its mother within 24-48 hours of birth. Calves would naturally suckle for 6-12 months.

Separation is a distressing process as mother and calf form a strong maternal bond. Dairy cow husbandry expert, Professor John Webster described the removal of the calf as the "most potentially distressing incident in the life of the dairy cow". Webster points out that "the cow will submit herself to considerable personal discomfort or risk to nourish and protect her calf". [6] Examples of this are cows that have escaped and travelled several miles to find their own calf after it has been sold on to another farm. [7]

Raising the Calves

A proportion of female calves are selected as "herd replacements". Reared for the cowshed, these usually spend their first 6-8 weeks of life confined individually in narrow pens. Taken from their mother, and unable to interact meaningfully with their fellows, these calves suffer behavioural deprivation, which can affect them for life. [8] Alternatively, calves may be reared in groups. With either method, calves are usually fed by artificial teat or bucket.

The young calf is particularly vulnerable to disease. To help boost the calve's immunity, it is essential that they receive colostrum, the mother's first milk, which contains extra nutrients and antibodies against disease. However, calves born to mothers with long, pendulous udders can have difficulty locating the udder. Each year, about 170,000 calves die within their first month of life. Scouring (diarrhoea) and respiratory infections are common killers. [9]

Mutilations

Calves can be subjected to a range of painful mutilations. Male calves have traditionally been castrated. In the UK, three methods are used; a rubber ring or other device is used to restrict the flow of blood to the s*****m within the first week of life; so-called "bloodless castration" by physically crushing the spermatic cords and surgical castration, both usually carried out within 2 months of birth. All three methods cause acute pain. [10] Under these conditions, there is no legal requirement for an anaesthetic to be used or a vet to be present.

Calves are often disbudded to prevent their horns growing, or are dehorned in later life. Both procedures are painful and stressful. [11] Disbudding involves applying a heated iron to the horn buds of young calves up to about 2 months old. If carried out within the first week, the law does not require an anaesthetic to be used. Dehorning involves cutting off the older animal's horns using a saw, horn shears or cutting wire, and cauterising the exposed blood vessels. Mercifully, an anaesthetic is required by law.

Some female calves are born with one or more extra (supernumerary) teats, which are often removed using surgical scissors.

Unwanted Male Calves

The modern dairy cow has been bred to be so specialised for milk, rather than meat production, that male calves of the pure dairy breed are perceived by many farmers as not being worth rearing for meat. These pitiful calves were those exported from the UK to be reared in cruel veal crates on the European continent. Half a million calves about 2 weeks old were transported over long distances to be reared in a system so cruel it was banned in the UK in 1990.

The live export trade in tiny calves was stopped in the 1990's, due to BSE fears and the worldwide ban on British beef and calf exports. Instead, a Government scheme, the Calf Processing Aid Scheme, paid farmers to have these calves killed when just days old. This scheme was terminated in 1999. Male calves - the unwanted by-products of the dairy industry - continue to be treated like disposable waste rather than as sentient beings. All too often, they are likely to face an early death. Government advice for killing calves on farm is that "a free bullet or shotgun are preferred methods". [12]

Veal

The veal crate is a narrow, solid-sided wooden box in which calves are unable even to turn around, let alone exercise, for the 4-6 month rearing period before slaughter. The UK banned narrow veal crates in 1990 and the EU, on Dec 31 2006. Under these new EU rules, calves must be housed either in groups or in individual pens that allow the animals to turn round. Minimum iron content and fibre must be given to all calves over two weeks old.

The Suffering of the Mother

A cow's milk production is caused by the birth of her calf. To maximise production, the modern dairy cow is made pregnant again whilst lactating. She will bear a calf each year until worn out and sent for slaughter. Most dairy cows are inseminated artificially. She will have her first calf when 2 years old. She will continue to be milked for 10 months - but will be made pregnant again in the third month. Only during the final few weeks of this pregnancy will she be dried out and her overworked udder given a rest. The amount of milk produced by the cow in peak lactation is more than 10 times the amount that the calf would naturally drink.

Grossly Overworked

The industry's quest for higher milk yield has imposed great stress on the dairy cow's metabolism. So great that she no longer has the natural capacity to keep up with her over-producing udder. To keep pace, the cow's natural food of grass and herbs is supplemented with high-protein concentrated feeds based on grains, soya and fishmeal, which can result in increased gut and foot problems.

Professor John Webster, in The Welfare of Dairy Cattle, states, "The amount of work done by the cow in peak lactation is immense...To achieve a comparably high work rate a human would have to jog for about 6 hours a day, every day." The Professor sums up the situation in saying, "The modern dairy cow may be compared to a highly tuned racing car designed to run as fast as possible on very high grade fuel. As with Grand Prix cars, the results are, at best spectacular but at least unreliable and at worst catastrophic."

The price of high milk yield can be seen in the serious welfare problems in dairy cows...

Mastitis

Mastitis is a painful udder infection that occurs in all dairy herds. Some 35-40 incidences of mastitis are found per 100 cows. [13] The bacterial infection causes inflammation and swelling of the udder, which can become hard and hot with an abnormal discharge. Antibiotics are injected into the teats of affected cows to treat the disease.

Ketosis

High-yielding dairy cows are prone to Ketosis, a condition that usually occurs in early lactation. It is brought on by the cow's metabolism having to work too hard to sustain milk production. This causes the cow to metabolise her own body fat to make milk, resulting in excessive amounts of ketone bodies in the liver. [14] Dairy cow expert, Professor Webster states, "Humans with ketosis and liver damage feel extremely unwell and we may reasonably assume the same for cows."

Lameness

Lameness is a painful and serious animal welfare issue. The rate of lameness in the UK dairy herd is believed to be 55 cases a year for every 100 cows. High-yielding cows are more vulnerable to lameness due to the metabolic strain they are under. [15] Another important cause of lameness is the fact that cowsheds built 25-35 years ago were designed for traditional breeds. The longer-bodied Holstien-freisians that now make up the majority of the EU dairy herd are too long for their cubicles. Their back legs are all too often standing in the dunging passage, where the soles of their feet can soften and crack, allowing infection to enter. [16]

Answer 7

Cows milk is perfectly designed to grow a calf into a thousand pound cow. It simply has too much fat and protein for the human body. Each animal, including humans, have been designed to produce milk that  perfectly fits the growing needs of its babies.

Certain methods of milking do hurt cows.

Answer 8

Milk is high in fat, thats why its "bad"

And no it dosent hurt the cow

Answer 9

No it doesn't hurt a cow at all!And milk is good for you because it contains calcuim.Bet you scoff cheese,yoghurts,chocolate etc well thats all made from milk.

Answer 10

In the factories where they milk cows, yes, it does hurt the cows. They do need to be milked, however, not by huge machines that get every drop out of them that they can.

The milk industry artificially inseminates the cows so that they can give milk. They also pump the cows full of hormones. That's why milk is bad.

However, if you were to own your own cow and milk it, it'd be a totally different story. It's not the product, it's the production.

Answer 11

the only reason a cow would have to be milked is if it is prego. if it was prego then the baby would drink the milk not a human. we humans take the milk and the baby and leave the cow for dead.

and humans are the only species that drink milk, not only from another species but ALSO after we are toddlers.

the cow isn't even milked by a human or it's baby. it's milked by a freaking machine.

Answer 12

Actually it is just the opposite - if a cow is not milked when she is producing milk, she will develop mastitis - a very painful inflammation of the mammary glands/teats.  Cows, goats, sheep and other milk producing animals actually feel better when milked.  Milk is not bad - it is good for you in moderation as it is a good source, for most people, of easily digestible protein, calcium and vitamins.

WA

Grew up on a dairy farm and studied veterinary medicine.

Answer 13

Only if your pulling it teats to hard

Answer 14

it doesnt hurt them. milk is not bad.. well it is unless its raw milk.

Answer 15

Yes it usually does eventually hurt the cow because they are forced to have babies for their entire life and when the babies are born they are taken away and milked by a machine not by her baby.  It is totally different than having her calf sucking the milk compared to a machine stealing it.  Milk from a COW is not made for human bodies.  Thats why its SO VERY BAD.  Cows have 4 stomachs and a cows milk have enough fat and protein in it for a calf which like an adult have 4 stomachs and gain hundreds of pounds in a matter of months.  People do not need milk after infancy and of course we are the only species to consume dairy after infancy because somehow we let farmers convince us that milk is good for our bones.  Well thats odd because the united states consumes the most milk than any other country in the world and we have the most osteoporosis cases than anywhere in the world.  Also why do you think so many people are lacto intolerant...because they are not supposed to have it!  Either are the people who can "tolerate" it.  The worst thing about it is the cruelty to animals.  The mother cow literally cries for her calf for weeks after her baby is taken away so fast.  She is articially impregnated time after time and never gets the joys after giving birth.  Don't tell me they don't know the difference! Have you ever in your life heard a mother cry for her young, it will tear your heart out of your chest.  After the mother cow is unable to produce anymore she is given her first form of "freedom" and put on a truck that goes to the slaughter house.  After getting of the truck they are forced out and hung by ONE leg upside down while their throat is slit and left to bleed to death.  Even before they are dead they are skinned alive.  If you drink milk you are not only hurting yourself but you are a supporter of murder, murder to animals!

Answer 16

Milk is bad because they keep the cows in cramped spaces, and they milk them 24/7. Also, a cow doesn't produce milk unless pregnant. They impregnate them and then she never sees her calf because they send it to a leather making place or raise them till they are old enough to be milked themselves.

Answer 17

PLEASE don't listen to the "milking cows is good for them" c**p.  Cows are kept in a constant cycle of pregnancy and birth.   Once the calf is born, it is taken away usually within the first day of birth so that milk-drinking humans can harvest the milk for themselves.  The calf is then sent to a veal farm.  (If you wouldn't eat veal, then you shouldn't drink milk.)

After the dairy cow can no longer produce at capacity, they are turned into ground meat.  (If you wouldn't eat meat, then you shouldn't drink milk.)

It's all part of the same factory farming industry.  This is why milk is bad.

Answer 18

its not the milking itself really its the places they keep the cows & how they treat them thats not good

youtube ->meet your meat

help you with this question

hopexx

Answer 19

She's asking vegans why they dont drink milk.

For that matter, why dont you eat eggs.

I mean those eggs get laid anyway. And the free range ones are given loads of room and the best feed. Those eggs would be wasted. We eat them.

Why dont you guys?

Answer 20

i dont think it would hurt because there babies drink milk. im not sure you can compare it to breast feeding..

idk.

Answer 21

Well some people says it doesn't hurt - but imagine someone pulling your boob for milk to come out. I guess they need to be milked correctly.

BUT I believe we shouldn't drink the milk, their calves need the milk more than we do. But sadly, the mother is killed. The calf grows to a cow, they get pregnant, they get milk, then they die in a slaughterhouse. I think its unfair.

Read this

http://www.formerfatguy.com/articles/don...