As I said, I don't know when to shut up. I was involved in the dairy industry for about 40 years in one way or another. For better or worse, I know something about cows, calves, milk production, and dairying. Most of the time the cow doesn't even notice when the calf is removed. One reason for this is because they are taken shortly after birth before the cow bonds with it. Don't believe me? Try giving the calf back to the cow after it has been gone for a day or even less. I once had a beef cow whose newborn calf I had to remove because it was badly chilled. I took it up to the house, warmed it up, and then took it back out to the cow. She would have nothing to do with it. I had taken the calf during the critical bonding period and once that window of time had passed there was no going back. Never could convince her that calf was hers.
Cows are not stressed by giving large amounts of milk. You can't force a cow to produce milk. Either she produces it or she doesn't. If a cow is stressed she will not let her milk down. In order for milk let down to occur, oxytocin must be released. If a cow is upset, she will release adrenaline, not oxytocin and you won't get a drop of milk out of her.
In some dairies cows are milked by robots and that process is a sight to behold. The cow has a sensor on her neck chain. When she wants to be milked she goes to the robot and maybe has to stand in line and wait her turn. When she gets up to it, the robot recognizes her, the gate opens, she goes into the stall, a special feed is dropped down (the amount of feed depends on which cow), the teats are cleaned, then an arm with the teat cups comes out and a laser senses where the teat is and the teat cups are applied. As soon as that quarter is emptied the teat cup drops off. When she is done a disinfectant is applied to the teat ends, the gate opens, and that cow goes on out to the barn to do whatever cows do and the next cow comes in. Heifers learn how to use the robots in about three or four days.
These particular cows are kept in free stalls bedded with over a foot of sand. Free stalls mean they can enter and leave the stalls at will. There is always feed available (dispensed by a robot) and in the winter the water is warm. Manure is scraped out of the barn automatically. The cows even have a brush they can go to so they can get their heads and backs scratched. The brush looks like the brushes you see in some car washes. I could watch video of the brush roller and the milking robot all day, but then I am easily entertained.
When I worked on the dairy the milking was done by me, not a robot, even though by the end of the shift I felt like one. The cows all came into the barn voluntarily. Only rarely did I have to fetch cows and these were cows that were at the end of their lactation and were ready to be dried off.
Sorry about your mouse. I really enjoyed my pack rat. I thought I would like to have a deer mouse but I never got the opportunity.
this was interesting to read, and sounds great until you dig a bit-
Firstly cows dont don't usually out right stop producing milk as a result of stress- rather they produce less milk. But I don't believe just keeping them comfortable and reducing stress is enough here, they deserve more enrichment than standing in a stall or barn, they should be out grazing for most of the day. I know that they come in for milking and are generally happy with it, and I'm not saying milking a cow is bad, I'm saying farming them for milk is. Secondly, much of what you have said has focussed on the cows themselves, not the calves who are also part of the equation. No one can deny that carrying a calf, and giving birth to that calf is physically and emotionally stressful. Then to lose that calf, (you're right about this, not many cows get upset at this, as I mentioned before in agreement, cows were bred for their milk not mothering skills- but some definitely do get upset) is even more stress. Not just for her, but also for her baby who only just came into the world and is now being shipped off to be put on either rations, or milk replacement. They're without mum, and then usually being slaughtered for veal, or raised for the same viscous cycle. The large amount of breeding, increasing livstock numbers can also tie in here with harm to the planet.
Even if we imagine a perfect dairy farm, where the calves were humanely raised, the cows could graze etc etc, it still breaks down into this: Insemination, pregnancy, birth, loss, milk production for around 10 months, repeat for usually 4 or 5 years (an age where these animals are still young) and then kill. It's an industry that I can only view as selfish, at best.
And this is without considering the fairly common diseases associated with dairy farming, although this mainly applies to factory farming.
When this is combined with other information found in this thread, that (just about) the majority of people cannot properly digest cow's milk, I think we're faced with the need to finally make a change.
Now, disclaimer, I don't know a huge amount about cattle, only basics from research and what I have seen personally. So feel free to correct me if I got something wrong. Another disclaimer, I also don't know when to shut up, so we may need to wrap this up or it will never stop lol
