The cow

1164: 

Humans will manipulate anything to gain personal advantage.  We exploit resources to strengthen and protect ourselves, and especially when there’s no danger in it for us (like when we use captive animals).  Our advantage-taking, inspired by slavery, allows much of our food and clothing to be taken from animals.  By putting animals to work for us, whole livelihoods can be provided.  We put them to work for us because we can, because there are no negative repercussions. (Or so we think!)

         

Take the cow for instance.  We steal her milk. She is the victim of theft and assault on a daily basis.  Her fate is in the hands of those humans who want to get 20-40 litres of milk from her every day.  The new-born is pushed aside so that we can get the milk.  We’ve always stolen it, and now we hardly notice it, and see no reason to stop doing it.

On the farm, the calf is dispatched as quickly as possible, having served its chief purpose in embryo, as a foetus.  Having stimulated its mother’s mammary glands to produce huge quantities of milk, there’s no point in extending the calf’s life.  Often, calves are shot on day one.  One or two female calves (of the five or six calves born to a cow) are sent to ‘calf prison’, until they’re ready for dairy duties, or for fattening purposes.

         

It’s a sad thought, that we abuse such a peaceful creature.  Anthropomorphically, we can guess that both cow and calf are not too happy about this.  But it’s legal. There’s not much anyone can do about it.  The milk is marketed, profits made, the cow enslaved.

Are people unhappy about this?  Are they ashamed?  Not exactly, because most people have never even thought about it, or if they have they’ve chosen to ignore it.  The dairy section of the supermarket is full of products we like and would have considerable trouble giving up.  We even believe that the milk content of foods is good for us.  We’ve been nicely brainwashed.  Our desensitisation has reached the point where considering ‘the rights and wrongs of dairy farming’ has never entered our heads.