The "life" of a dairy cow
Worldwide there are about 225 million cows, producing about 500 million tons of milk a year. Only in Italy in 2005 over one million and 800 thousand cows produced 10.5 million tonnes of milk (source: FAO and Eurostat data on Ismea).
To produce such quantities of milk a cow, bred according to the criteria developed in recent decades of intensive farming, is usually forced to give birth to a calf a year. This leads to a coincidence between these animals during pregnancy and lactation most of the year. Dairy cows, in fact, pregnant and lactating simultaneously for about seven months. Lactation stops just two months before the birth of the calf, but after three months of the birth of the little cow is pregnant again, through artificial insemination, and so the pregnancy-lactation cycle begins again. This overexploitation often makes the cows have calves about 2-4 before you begin to experience chronic health problems, or infertility, becoming "cull cows" and be sent to the slaughterhouse.
The puppies are 1-3 days away from its mother after birth, but continue to look for a long time after separation. The females fall in the production cycle milk, while male calves are in most cases sent to companies to "grease", although subjected to a diet low in iron so that "produce" the white veal. It is not uncommon that small farmers kill them at birth because "useless": a case in point is represented by the male calves of the buffalo, whose flesh is considered of little economic interest, which are often left to starve.
Dairy cows are led to increasing production by means of genetic selection of species, with specific diets and through the use of milking machines. Cows are usually fertilized by artificial insemination artificial embryo transfer also frequent, practice extremely painful enough to require epidural anesthesia by law. Embryo transfer is used to quickly multiply the number of cows "high quality", that is more productive.
Years of genetic selection, therefore, have meant that the cows currently produce about ten times the amount of milk needed to feed their calves, aged between 30 and 50 liters of milk per day. Due to the production of milk which they are forced, the cows are in a constant state of "starvation metabolism" so that their bodies provide the necessary energy to all their functions. In addition, the breasts are so heavy that the weight significantly affects the hind legs seriously damaged.
are very often encountered in cases of lameness in dairy cows. In addition to weight, a key factor is the fact that during the winter are often housed in post offices, in most cases too narrow to allow adequate room, so often the hind legs of the animals remain for hours in the sliding channel of wastewater, just behind the post office. Another factor is the inadequacy of the litter on which the cows lie down, and then in direct contact with the floor which causes abrasions and inflammation of the joints.
Another frequent disease of dairy cows and the occurrence of mastitis: painful bacterial infection of the udder of the main causes of which are made by automatic milking machines and poor hygienic conditions of farms. It is estimated that each year are used millions of doses of antibiotics (usually penicillin) to treat this disease, with enormous financial costs.
But the cost in pain and suffering of the animal can not be quantified, all these diseases contribute significantly to almost totally destroy their energies, so as not physically able to stand, to become what is commonly referred to as "cows on the ground" .
To produce such quantities of milk a cow, bred according to the criteria developed in recent decades of intensive farming, is usually forced to give birth to a calf a year. This leads to a coincidence between these animals during pregnancy and lactation most of the year. Dairy cows, in fact, pregnant and lactating simultaneously for about seven months. Lactation stops just two months before the birth of the calf, but after three months of the birth of the little cow is pregnant again, through artificial insemination, and so the pregnancy-lactation cycle begins again. This overexploitation often makes the cows have calves about 2-4 before you begin to experience chronic health problems, or infertility, becoming "cull cows" and be sent to the slaughterhouse.
The puppies are 1-3 days away from its mother after birth, but continue to look for a long time after separation. The females fall in the production cycle milk, while male calves are in most cases sent to companies to "grease", although subjected to a diet low in iron so that "produce" the white veal. It is not uncommon that small farmers kill them at birth because "useless": a case in point is represented by the male calves of the buffalo, whose flesh is considered of little economic interest, which are often left to starve.
Dairy cows are led to increasing production by means of genetic selection of species, with specific diets and through the use of milking machines. Cows are usually fertilized by artificial insemination artificial embryo transfer also frequent, practice extremely painful enough to require epidural anesthesia by law. Embryo transfer is used to quickly multiply the number of cows "high quality", that is more productive.
Years of genetic selection, therefore, have meant that the cows currently produce about ten times the amount of milk needed to feed their calves, aged between 30 and 50 liters of milk per day. Due to the production of milk which they are forced, the cows are in a constant state of "starvation metabolism" so that their bodies provide the necessary energy to all their functions. In addition, the breasts are so heavy that the weight significantly affects the hind legs seriously damaged.
are very often encountered in cases of lameness in dairy cows. In addition to weight, a key factor is the fact that during the winter are often housed in post offices, in most cases too narrow to allow adequate room, so often the hind legs of the animals remain for hours in the sliding channel of wastewater, just behind the post office. Another factor is the inadequacy of the litter on which the cows lie down, and then in direct contact with the floor which causes abrasions and inflammation of the joints.
Another frequent disease of dairy cows and the occurrence of mastitis: painful bacterial infection of the udder of the main causes of which are made by automatic milking machines and poor hygienic conditions of farms. It is estimated that each year are used millions of doses of antibiotics (usually penicillin) to treat this disease, with enormous financial costs.
But the cost in pain and suffering of the animal can not be quantified, all these diseases contribute significantly to almost totally destroy their energies, so as not physically able to stand, to become what is commonly referred to as "cows on the ground" .
Use allowed quoting the source LAV Onlus 2007 - www.lav.it
http://paradisiverdi.ucoz.com/publ/12-1-0-61
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