Yesterday, I viewed an undercover video published by Mercy for Animals which showed flagrant and upsetting abuse of dairy cows at a Wisconsin dairy that supplies cheese to DeGiorno for use in their frozen pizzas.
Hopefully, DiGiorno will remove this dairy from their supply chain. Videos such as this one highlight the rampant abuse present in some dairies. These gentle, helpless creatures were kicked, stabbed, cursed, hit about the face and body and the downed animals were lifted on a "cow lift" by various parts of their bodies. One cow was pitifully "mooing" as she was being lifted.
Also, these poor Holsteins were slipping on the manure-covered surface they were non. This, of course, leads to foot and leg problems. Once a cow cannot stand and move on her own, her life is over. Cows raised in clean, humane conditions can have a life span of 25 years, but from what I have read, the average lifespan of today's dairy cow on a factory farm is four to five years before she is physically spent from producing a cow each year and producing an unnaturally large amount of milk.
Milk production per cow has dramatically increased in the last thirty years. The most recent figures I can find show many dairy cows produce an average of about 20,000 lbs. of milk per year. This is far more than would be produced naturally, e.g., if human intervention had not "tweeked" these animals to produce an unsustainable amount of milk. Cows naturally produce enough milk to feed their offspring. In commercial dairies, a cow's calf is removed from her almost immediately after birth so that her milk can be used for human consumption.
Female calves (heifers) are often retained as replacements for cows who can no longer produce, are sick or injured or die from other causes. Male calves are sold as veal or raised for beef. They are what is called a "by-product" of the dairy industry. Thankfully, California has outlawed the use of veal crates a few years ago. The old crates can still be seen stacked up by the roadside at dairies that are about a 20 minute drive from my home. California also outlawed tail-docking of dairy cows.
When I was growing up in a Los Angeles suburb, we still had one dairy in my community very close to my family home. I never saw a cow with a docked tail in California and that dairy didn't have a large number of cows and they were kept in good conditions. I believe with the advent of the factory farm, everything has gone downhill.
It is very important that all of us fight proposed "ag-gag" laws which would make it a criminal offense to enter a farm or dairy and film the activities. These undercover videos are sometimes the only means to document horrendous abuse.
Please contact your U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators and ask them to vote "no" on any "ag-gag" bills. My California Representative and Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are always very receptive to animal welfare issues.
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