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?

[quote Tanaqui]@Skyla2005, but soy is so bad for deforestation too, and monoculture- how about oat milk instead?[/quote]
It is true that the mass production of soya is a significant factor in deforestation. But only about 10% of soya grown is actually consumed directly by humans. The vast majority is used for animal feed, primarily cattle.

@Superfoodie123

I dont buy supermarket milk for that reason. I go to markets and buy raw organic milk that hasn't had all the enzymes burnt out and isn't pumped full of hormones. If I can't buy that milk then I'll drink oat milk.

I'd rather drink supermarket milk though than soy which is full of estrogen and can seriously mess up your hormones

This is a popular belief but with little scientific backing.

Soya doesn't contain estrogen but isoflavones which can bind to estrogen receptors and theoretically cause an increase in estrogen production.

The only studies where any increase in estrogen levels at all was shown was where people consumed extraordinary amounts of soya.

90% of all soya grown is used for animal feed. Mostly for cattle. So if people are eating beef or drinking milk from cows fed on soya, any negative effects of the isoflavones would be passed on anyway.

Of course people should make their own choices, but the demonisation of soya for human consumption has been funded and encouraged by the meat and dairy industry for many years.

If the hormone element is what is keeping you from drinking soya, check out a few of the studies available online.

CusionCovers

As someone who was a passenger many times on a livestock export lorries with calves on it shipping back and forth from Harwich to Holland
Why were you a passenger on these lorries?

Does it matter why I was a passenger?

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46654042

There are many other options that soya.

As someone who a) knows lots of dairy farmers b) can research independently we don't have much dairy produce in the house. The cows do remember. And the treatment they receive is just awful.

Udder burning in particular, the cries of the cows...

I just can't...

Don't kid yourself with all this crap about the cows don't miss their calves. The calves absolutely miss their mothers and cry pitilessly for them for days and days

Did you learn to speak cow or do you have a cow to English dictionary? Must be one of them to be able to tell us all why calves are making the sounds they do?

Not in the UK.

Jam what a bizarre question.
It's obvious when you take any baby animal or human away from its mother it will cry out for it. It's a basic function for survival. Put the infant back with its mother and it stops. It's not rocket science.

t's obvious when you take any baby animal or human away from its mother it will cry out for it. It's a basic function for survival. Put the infant back with its mother and it stops. It's not rocket science

It's not at all obvious, it's not even true. Most baby animals have no need for their mothers after a very short period, some not at all. Huge numbers of species abandon at birth.
I presume when you say "baby animals" you actually mean mammals, which is a small subsection of animals, and even then you're still wrong. Harp seals, 12 days and mummys gone. Loads of other species similar. And that's not even starting on all the mammals that just can't be fucked, like pandas only choosing one and letting the other die.
Anyway, loads of mammals won't make any sounds when they are taken from the mother. They might die but thats not the same thing.

You are anthropomorphising again. Trying to make people feel sad for the cows crying "mommy, I miss you". It's very silly and childish and only going to work on the silly and childish.

@cushioncovers

Jam what a bizarre question. It's obvious when you take any baby animal or human away from its mother it will cry out for it. It's a basic function for survival. Put the infant back with its mother and it stops. It's not rocket science.

What would you say about some of my ewes who give birth and immediately abandon their lambs. They have no mothering instinct at all.

We can agree to disagree.

Never worked with sheep so no idea. Can only comment on what I've had experience in.

Well, it's interesting how these threads develop! I agree with the idea of some school input re farming practices and where our food comes from. Coming from farming families on both sides of my family I have a good idea of how animals are breed and cared for.
The transport of live animals to Europe is being banned is it not so not something the UK wants to continue. Soya feed for cattle is mainly used in the US and South America, not here so much. Aldi has a bit promotion in Scotland where they are buying all the dairy calves from the milk suppliers and fattening them for beef which is great. Cattle in the UK are out to pasture or feed silage. Farmers try to feed as little pellet as possible as it's very costly.
I'm surrounded by hill farms with sheep and cattle on them. My teen is at college doing agriculture and wants to work with sheep.The sheep are out on the hills all year and only indoors at lambing if the weather is bad. Lamb is my favorite meat, I with the brits would eat more.

For anyone saying the UK isn’t too bad/ has good welfare standards I suggest you spend a little bit of your time watching this documentary which was filmed exclusively in the UK

www.landofhopeandglory.org/

Horrifying .

Agree Lazierdays

@Lazierdays a documentary funded by vegans is going to show balanced views isn’t it

I’ve worked in agriculture and land management for ten years after spending all of my teens as a vegetarian. I’ve never seen any animals being abused, I’m not saying agriculture is perfect but there are thousands and thousands of farms not featured here. They aren’t showing them are they. They aren’t showing the thousands farmers dedicated to providing high welfare standards. The thousands of farmers up and down this country working day in day out looking after the countryside and providing food for the country. This idea that all farming is evil is ridiculous.

@springdale1 well if it wasn’t actually happening the footage wouldn’t exist so your ‘not all farms are like that’ argument is somewhat invalid.

Unlike the people selling these products who push the fake idea that the animals are well cared for. Just look at the recent ‘happy egg’ company scandal. Disgusting.

Now who would I trust more vegans and their footage of actual animals in uk farms or large companies trying to sell me their products through deception...

The way animals are treated as commodities is shameful. Even the farms that aren’t as cruel and abusive as the ones filmed they are still forcing cows to get pregnant frequently so as to produce milk, then their newborn babies are taken away and disposed of, in order for humans to drink their milk.
Which isn’t even healthy for us.
I mean it’s all just insane when you think about it. That’s without looking at the small issue of pandemics that arise from farmed animals, or any one of a myriad of other issues ranging from water usage to antibiotic resistance.

I know this thread has deviated from the main question in the OP but if you are in a country that is supplied milk where this practice is permitted, there are a lot of manufacturers that don't use it so you'll want to look for 'rBST free' on the label if it's an American brand.

I've stopped bothering to look at the labels here in the US sunnydaleslayer - so few milk/dairy producers will buy milk from farms that use rBST any more. When even Walmart milk is rBST free that's a sign that pretty much everywhere is.

If you want or need to avoid any hormones, hemp milk has no known effect on eatrogen either way (does not decrease or increase estrogen).

[quote PattyPan]@notalwaysalondoner that’s a myth - soya doesn’t have an impact on hormones[/quote]
Evidence is inconclusive.

@ByGrabtharsHammerWhatASavings

"it is now well established that in the human body, isoflavones do not behave like the human hormone oestrogen"

From the british dietetic association

www.bda.uk.com/resource/soya-foods.html

All alpro brand product only use European grown soy and are fortified with calcium, so they're a great alternative to cows milk (though personally I prefer oat).

Yes but isoflavones can still have estrogenic effects i.e. increasing or decreasing levels of estrogen in the body.

This thread is so depressing. Its scary to see how cold hearted some people can be towards animals.

The transport of live animals to Europe is being banned is it not so not something the UK wants to continue

Not true.