LogFAQs > #883654976

shadowsword87 posted...

Not really, after the cow gives birth the first time it's given the hormone that makes it's body think it's still pregnant (which is where people complain about hormones in cows) so it produces milk until it dies.

That's not how the dairy industry operates universally. Some opt to use rBST, others do not. Many people don't want milk from cows given growth hormones.

https://www.dairyfarmers.ca/farmers-voice/farming/milk-myths-debunked-dairy-is-scary-or-not

Even the dairy industry does admit they continue to inseminate dairy cows through their lives. Cows are cycled through pregnancy to produce milk. There's typically a dry-up period when the cows are pregnant before they give birth to the next calf. Cows can't just be milked indefinitely on hormones. Production dries up.

shadowsword87 posted...

Raising cattle exclusively for slaughter just isn't price efficient enough, it takes a lot of feed and time to get a cow to slaughter (I believe it's three years), so they just don't do that.

That's why most males are sent to be veal calves. Occasionally you will have others sent for other meat purposes. It also depends on what the dairy calves are bed with. But they are continuously bred.

The really underproducing females are killed and sold for meat as well. There's a lot of other things that will use the beef beyond human grade food.

So if you drink milk but don't support veal... well, you still support veal.
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