Are English dairy cows fed a lot of hormones that could end up in their milk?

[Trowbridge10]

I'm just reading about additional hormones coming through to us from the meat & milk we consume. Do you think this is really happening & can it affect our health?

I live in the US and looked into this a while ago. Almost all the milk for sale in supermarkets here now is from cows that have not been treated with rBST/rBGH. That includes own brands like Walmart's Great Value brand as well as more local dairies (where I am that's typically Hood and Oakhurst).

Consumers voted with their feet so producers responded.

@notalwaysalondoner

Soya is renowned for having high oestrogen like chemicals that can impact young boys in particular if you drink too much - so it’s not the best alternative if it’s hormones you’re worried about

Not true

Their function is to produce milk

That is the function humans have chosen for them. Why the fuck do we get to decide that. Maybe they would like to have other plans. The ARROGANCE of humans thinking that things just exist for our convenience when there are any number of alternatives. None of those alternatives are perfect but they are ALL better for us AND the planet than cows milk

@ChocOrange1

My view is - why drink the milk of another animal? Humans are the only species which do it Humans are also the only species who cook their food, wear clothes and live in houses. Shall we stop doing that too?

I'dalmost agree... but my cats (and the dog before) love lapping milk up.

Cows don't 'quicly forget their calves'. Have you ever heard them crying for their babies? I do eat/drink dairy but the lack of empathy towards farming animals from some posters is astounding... a 'nation of animal lovers' .... my arse.

You're anthropomorphising cows.

I don't think cows have the same experience or understanding as humans, but it would be deeply arrogant and remiss to say that they don't suffer for what we do to them.

I think there's a level of denial from both dairy farmers, and those who wants to eat dairy without feeling guilty, on this thread.

As someone who's done bits of work on dairy farms they certainly dont have "the worst life", that kind of bullshit comment really annoys me.

@CommunistLegoBloc but have you worked on a dairy farm? Not what you’ve seen on PETA videos but an actual dairy farm. I’ve worked on lots of different farms and generally dairy cows have a much nicer life than most - especially chickens and pigs

I think there's a level of denial from both dairy farmers, and those who wants to eat dairy without feeling guilty, on this thread

and what do you know about being a dairy farmer?

I wish people wouldn't apply what PETA says to the UK. The fact is, we have different and higher standards to the US across the board.

@Thelnebriati

I wish people wouldn't apply what PETA says to the UK. The fact is, we have different and higher standards to the US across the board.

This.

The UK desperately needs to introduce agriculture into the curriculum. People should have a proper understanding of how agriculture in the UK works. A family member of mine studies at one of the UK’s more prestigious uni’s- refuses to eat eggs because she thinks she is eating a baby chicken every time. Despite my explanation she refuses to believe me.

The UK desperately needs to introduce agriculture into the curriculum.

We used to have a bit of 'rural science' back in the day, I think there was a CSE in it. My school (in a town, not rural) had some pigs and hens.
Maybe make listening to The Archers compulsory? (Joke... I think)

The UK desperately needs to introduce agriculture into the curriculum

I really don't understand the UK attitude towards agriculture. There's a weird disconnect between town and country, its as if food is created in the supermarket.
When the Govt introduced the idea of Brexit, they should have invested in being more self sufficient in growing food, especially salads and seed crops, and preparing farmers who would lose EU subsidies. But they did nothing.

The UK desperately needs to introduce agriculture into the curriculum

Why? What for? And what would that look like?

@boltfromtheblueblue

The UK desperately needs to introduce agriculture into the curriculum

Why? What for? And what would that look like?

What do you fear?

What a bizarre question. What do I fear? Clowns, and failure. What has that got to do with my question?

@boltfromtheblueblue because it’s entirely evident from this thread that people have absolutely no idea where their food comes from, how it’s made or what they are putting into their bodies. Agriculture has entirely shaped the look of this country over thousands of years. People see videos online posted by PETA and think that is what UK agriculture is when it is not.

Cheap imports flood the market, such as Danish pork, but people don’t know why it’s cheaper than British. Would they eat the pork knowing it had been kept a cage for its whole life only able to lay down or stand up - not turn, I’d like to think not. It’s been illegal in the UK since the 90s though.

More education about the food industry in general would be good. Apart from animal welfare, and its variation between different countries and methods, there's doubtless a lot that should be made clearer about environmental and human costs.

There's no good argument for humans to drink the milk of another species, it's simply not healthy for us. But worse, in my opinion, is the wholesome image of the dairy farm is so far from the truth it would be laughable if it weren't so callous and abusive to cows and their calves. I long for the day that dairy farms are no more.

There's no good argument for humans to drink the milk of another species, it's simply not healthy for us

Of course there is, we like it and its nutritious. Its not unhealthy for the majority of people.

because it’s entirely evident from this thread that people have absolutely no idea where their food comes from, how it’s made or what they are putting into their bodies

I certainly do. And if other people don't know where milk and eggs come from, shoe-horning yet more stuff into the curriculum won't help. My children don't need to be diverted from actual learning because some other fool doesn't know what an egg is!

Yeah I did a summer on a dairy farm as a teenager. So I might not be a dairy farmer, but I didn't enjoy what I saw. There was a lot of 'oh that's fine, they're fine, don't get emotional about it' or 'they quickly forget', just like on this thread. I found it unbelievably uncomfortable.

Also, saying pigs / chickens have a worse life isn't a defence. It's not a race to the bottom. None of them has a great life, but this thread is about cows and milk specifically.