Everyday Inspiration, Day Two: Write a List – Here is a list of things the Dairy Industry won’t tell you

About a couple of months ago there was an outcry from the #AusDairy industry about their hardships due to expenses and drought.

Let’s have a look at a list of things that the #AusDairy won’t tell you about. The list includes the negative impacts of dairy on our environment, economy, the suffering to the animals involved, and our health.

One: Dairy is not good on the economy:Each year the average dairy farm uses 150 million litres of water (not including the irrigation to grow the animal feed). This is 15% of all water used in Australia. It takes 1,000L of water to produce 1L of milk (not including the irrigation). The milk is then sold to supermarkets for 15 cents per litre. I am no accountant but this doesn’t sound economically viable. No wonder the dairy industry requires large government subsidies!

Two: Dairy has a significant adverse impact on our Environment:The dairy cows in Australia produce more waste than the entire human population.  This leads to temperature anomalies, hypoxic dead zones, e-coli and other outbreaks.  Moreover, 46.3% of Australian land is occupied by cows and is responsible for the clearing of more than 68% of Australia’s forest and vegetation over the past 50 years. Grazing cows lead to the desertification of land so either the space is wasted while it is re-sowed resulting in depleted soil quality, or the farmers resort to a purely grain fed operation.  It takes 1,000L of water to produce 1L of milk (doesn’t include irrigation). You do the math.

Three: Dairy cause enormous amounts of suffering:A lactating cow consumes between 12 and 26kg of food per day. The food comes mostly from grain and legumes. If we use the amount of grains and legumes that are fed to livestock and use it to feed the humans in need, world hunger would substantially reduce. But alas, the suffering continues.

A huge chunk of vitamins, a cocktail of hormones and antibiotics produced in this country are given to farmed animals, including those in the dairy industry.

The CSIRO report (see reference 3) found the average annual milk production per cow is 5,231L and there are over 1.7 million dairy cows across Australia.  This is a huge toll on their bodies.  As if this isn’t scary enough, below is a simplified six step process of the dairy production:

(i) Artificially breed a hybrid milk machine dairy cow

(ii) Have a human sexually violate the animal to impregnate her. Farmers literally shove their hand into cows’ birth canals to do this. This is acceptable how???

(iii) Once the cow gives birth, and if the baby is alive, take the baby away. But there are ways to make sure the baby isn’t born alive. This is called ‘calve induction’ (see reference 4) where all the pregnant heard are induced before their due dates to produce still births but just close enough to the due dates so that the mothers still produce milk;

(iv) If the babies are born alive, they are taken away from the mother, starved and confined in crates until the next saleyard. The baby boys are sold for veal, while the baby girls are left to endure the same fate of rape-pregnant-milk cycle which is the foundation of the dairy industry;

(v) Once the babies, dead or alive, are out of the way, the mothers are milked dry. They are milked until the utters burn and their bodies collapse. Of course, you can’t milk a dry cow, so kill the mothers for hamburger meat once milk production slows, which in such intensive system happens after a mere 20% of their natural lifespans; and

(vi) Last but not least, rinse and repeat the above five steps to all the baby girls born to the dairy industry.

Four: Dairy is harmful to our health: Dairy is not only harmful to our economy, the environment, and the animals; it is also harmful to us. The average Australian consumes 104L of dairy milk and 12kg of dairy cheese annually. High cholesterol anybody?

After “pasteurization” (a sanitation process) each glass of milk is legally allowed to contain amounts of pus, faeces, blood, 20 types of antibiotics and growth hormones, and cancer promoting protein ‘casein’.  I think I will pass!

Medical journals are showing more and more studies that show links between dairy and ill health in humans. Refer to this link for more information: http://www.mediafire.com/download/ol3ppop7d8983lm/Bone+Health.pdf

 

I understand that most farmers were born into their situation, but there are cruelty-free, sustainable alternatives for a relatively small start-up cost that will produce greater financial rewards.  Nobody benefits from the dairy industry.  Traditions can be challenged and changed.

#ditchdairy #everydayinspiration

Resources:

1. FEATURE ARTICLE: WATER IN AUSTRALIA (http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/9e1dd9680bdd9821ca257090002029cc/330bc8fdfd50bee4ca2573c6001049f9!OpenDocument)

2. Cut Dairy Cut Cruelty (http://dairycruelty.com.au/water-use/)

3. Dairy Water Use in Australian Dairy Farms: Past Trends and Future Prospects (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271770101_Dairy_water_use_in_Australian_dairy_farms_past_trends_and_future_prospects)

4. Life of a Dairy Cow (https://www.voiceless.org.au/our-approach/research-and-publications/the-life-of-the-dairy-cow)

5. Animals Australia Dairy Facts (http://www.animalsaustralia.org/factsheets/dairy_cows.php)

6. Ditch Dairy (http://ditchdairy.com.au/)