Animal Welfare Videos / Dairy & Meat Industry / Films & Videos / Films About Diet and Food / Videos

Grieving Mothers – The Dairy Industry Steals Newborn Baby Calves from their Mothers

by Jennie Richards · Published August 18, 2017 · Updated July 12, 2021

The dairy industry has more grieving mothers than anywhere else on earth. Bear witness to what she experiences. Milk is for baby cows not for humans.

Today’s 9-million dairy cows suffer immeasurably their entire lives. Cows are ruminant animals, which means they need to graze on grass to sustain their health and maintain their natural behavior. However, cows on today’s farms are given a genetically-manipulated, technology-enhanced unnatural diet of grains that forces them to produce an unnatural quantity of milk for U.S. consumers. This is painful for them and causes immense physical suffering, reproductive cancers, chronic infections, mastitis, and pushes their bodies to be many times larger than is natural for cows in order to over-produce milk for humans. The dairy industry continues to subject cows to extremely inhumane, abusive and unnatural practices in the name of increasing corporate production goals, money and profits.

What dairy cows endure today:

Cows today are genetically manipulated to produce up to 100 pounds of milk per day, 10 times their natural production. Today’s cows are bred to be so large, that they can no longer carry their own weight, have difficulty walking, fall down, and are picked up in tractors and dragged to the slaughterhouse because they cannot walk.
Cows are forced to be continually pregnant with no time to recover between giving birth, because they are not allowed to raise their baby calf.
Cows are artificially impregnated on “rape” racks while they are still lactating from their previous birth to force their milk production during the next seven months of their 9-month pregnancy. It is unnatural for a female cow to be milking AND be pregnant with the next calf.
Cows are forced to have a calf every year for the dairy industry. This is completely unnatural as cows under all normal conditions give birth only once in their life, but industrial dairy pushes cows to have as many calves as she can, until her body is so depleted and exhausted she can no longer produce.
Cows are forced to have their first calf 3-4 years earlier than is natural, while their bodies are still not fully developed or mature enough to have a calf, which weakens their bodies, causes them pain, arthritis and chronic illnesses.
As soon as the mother cow gives birth, her calf is stolen from her causing her deep grief, distress, suffering and depression for weeks. The baby calf suffers emotionally and physically too without the nurturing and support of his mother.
Baby calves are removed from their mothers, then are either slaughtered or raised as veal calves where they live in extreme confinement. Here is more about veal calves.
Cows, due to forced reproduction at unnatural rates, suffer from mastitis, a painful bacterial infection of their udders; they also suffer from Bovine Leukemia Virus, Bovine Immunodeficiency Virus, and Johne’s disease, which are often ignored and unseen on today’s farms causing even greater pain and suffering.
Cows get “Milk Fever” due to intensive milk production from bodies that are calcium depleted.
Cows are fed an unnatural, technologically-manipulated diet that makes them produce an excessive, unnatural amount of milk daily. This diet causes metabolic disorders; laminitis which causes lameness; cancer, tumors and ketosis.
Cows are given Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), a synthetic hormone, to get cows to produce even greater quantities of milk – rBGH also increases birth defects in calves and causes cancer in humans and cows both.
Cows finally end up in the slaughterhouse after 3-4 years of intensive milk production and calving. Their bodies are so depleted, exhausted, and physically wreaked that many cannot walk or even stand up in the end – remember the “Downed Cow” video? They are picked up by bulldozers and transported to slaughter. Cows in transport are given no food, water, support or comfort. Dairy cows can often be dragged into the slaughterhouse.
Slaughter is done by roping them up by the back legs, where they are bled to death — many still fully conscious, kicking, fighting and struggling upside down due to their failed “stunning,” which is common. Death can take minutes, and often their bodies are being cut up while they are still conscious.

Actions you can take:

Don’t buy or eat dairy products. Reduce your dairy consumption (cheese, ice cream, milk) to once a week, once every two weeks or once a month, and continue reducing your dairy consumption. Avoid buying Bovine-Growth Hormone (BGH) induced cows milk (see the label, no BGH).
Buy plant-based milk, cheese and ice creams instead. Instead of dairy milk, consider buying plant-based milks including nut, grain and seed milks; and non-dairy alternative or substitute cheese, butter and ice cream products. They are far healthier, better for the environment and much better for the cows!
Dairy is bad for your health, the environment and is inhumane for cows. Learn more about industrial animal agriculture and why it’s such a significant threat to animal welfare, the environment, natural ecosystems, habitats and wildlife and dangerous for human health. It’s one of the leading causes of reproductive cancers in humans.
When you dine out. Ask local restaurants, cafes and coffee shops to buy plant-based alternatives to dairy.
Call your politicians and ask them to get involved and support animal welfare laws. Keep track of your politicians voting record. Communicate with them when you disagree with how they voted on animal welfare issues. Here is how you can get involved politically.
Spread the word and speak up for cows! Tell others about industrial animal agriculture. Share on social media and help get the word out!