The Truth About the Milk Industry
Animal Equality has released a report on Italy’s milk industry, revealing controversial practices the sector often tries to hide from consumers
In footage obtained from our investigative work on several farms in Northern Italy, we exposed what actually happens inside dairy farms, compared to what is marketed by the farms’ advertising. What the footage shows is the tragic exploitation of cows, with endless amounts of suffering.
What we found:
- Calves taken from mothers a few hours after birth
- Calves and cows living in cramped, unsanitary conditions, and covered with feces and mud
- Farmworkers performing preventive practices and care without veterinary supervision, which is illegal
- Cows with mastitis and very serious wounds, including wounded hooves illegally covered with scotch tape
- Cows "grazing zero," which means they do not have access to pastures, as opposed to what is constantly shown in the advertisements of dairy farms
All these practices demonstrate one thing: that the image conveyed daily by the dairy industry is not the reality cows live in. This form of extreme exploitation causes cows enormous suffering, specifically by quickly consuming their bodies and leading to premature death within just a few years.
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Transcript (English — en)
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from an early age we are sold this
version of milk production one where
cows graze freely happily roam in the
fields and are content and cared for but
what is the reality unlike what they
want us to believe most dairy cows have
no chance to graze and pastures or live
freely they live in enclosed spaces are
forced to walk on concrete slabs and are
surrounded by the metallic sounds of
machinery and iron fences in about ten
months a single cow can produce fifteen
gallons of milk per day which is 14
gallons more than she would produce in
the wild the enormous physical effect it
takes to produce that much milk will
ruin a cow's body and lead to premature
death within just a few years
cows are continually impregnated to
guarantee constant milk production
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and calves that are born are very soon
after torn from their mothers and
confined into small boxes the calves are
kept separate from each other often in
terrible unsanitary conditions their
feeding is totally artificial and since
they will never see their mother again
they are given pacifiers in addition to
all this these cows are subjected to
legal but very painful practices such as
the application of caustic paste to
prevent the growth of their horns as I
mentioned the intensive production and
never-ending milking causes serious
damage to the body of the cows often
their breasts become inflamed causing
mastitis a very painful infection but
this is not the only consequence of
stressful milk production these animals
are also covered in wounds and suffering
from infections and damage to their legs
very often preventive practices and care
for these animals are carried out by the
farms operators and not by a
veterinarian as is required by law the
footage we've shown here is not an
isolated case unfortunately it's the sad
reality of the daily life these cows are
forced to endure for the production of
milk the milk industry wants to portray
an idyllic world where cows graze
happily in the fields but the reality
for these animals is very different
theirs is a life of suffering punctuated
by separation from their calves
and exploitation of their bodies help us
to make the reality behind milk
production known please share this video
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