Page 1

The Life of a "dairy" cow

In the push for increasing profits, dairy cows have become an example of how basic welfare can become replaced
by the bottom line. At the beginning of the 20

century, the annual production of milk from one cow was 3,300 kg.

Just one hundred years later that number has jumped to 8,500 kg/year. All of this selective breeding to increase a
cow's output of milk has had devastating effects on the cows themselves. Today, a milking cow can only be kept
for between 3-5 years. After this time, her body becomes so calcium-depleted, her feet and legs so weakened,
her body so emaciated that it is no longer cost effective to keep her. She becomes what industry calls a "cull" or
"spent" dairy cow.

The cull cows we've seen as inspectors at livestock markets and slaughterhouses in North America have been
heartbreaking. The "average" dairy cow we see is lame, emaciated and weak. Lameness has many causes
including sole ulceration, laminitis, and hoof rot from being made to stand in their own excrement for days on end.
Some cows have internal disorders such as twisted stomachs, torn udder ligaments, acute or chronic mastitis (a
painful bacterial infection of their teats), or are so injured that they are what industry calls "downers". Downers are
non-ambulatory cows that are unable to rise to their feet no matter how many times they are electrically prodded.
They may be non-ambulatory for a number of reasons: broken or dislocated hips, broken leg bones, ulcerated or
infected hooves, or severe exhaustion. Unfortunately, in many of the US states no legislation exists protecting
these severely injured cows from being dragged by chains by tractors or loaders to the kill floor.

A dairy cow's ride to the slaughterhouse can be a very long and grueling one. If she is in the United States she
can legally be transported for up to 28 hours without food, water or rest time, in Canada for up to 57 hours. Cull
cows are also put through an auction ring even when terribly injured.

These cows that have spent their lives being milked by
machines, kept continually pregnant to have their calves
taken from them after only 1-2 days together so as not to
"waste" any of their milk on them, will have suffered greatly
by the time they reach the slaughterhouse.

But genetically, a cow's suffering does not end with her.
Her calves, who would otherwise be profit-eaters, become
profit-makers by being processed into veal. Veal calves
generally spend their lives alone, chained at the neck and
deprived of all iron to a state of anemia to ensure their
flesh remains pink and tender. They are typically
slaughtered as babies between 14 to 16 weeks of age, but
may even be sent through auction the same day they are
born (as we saw at numerous auctions in the US).