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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder whether people actually believe that there’s blood, piss and antibiotics in cow’s milk?

100 replies

nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 21:39

I’ve seen the posters which say as much but I didn’t realise people actually believed it until today after over hearing 2 women in a park today.

OP posts:
PlantsArePeopleToo · 12/08/2018 22:48

If we didn't have cows for milk or meat we wouldn't have cows.

And what exactly is the problem with that?

PlantsArePeopleToo · 12/08/2018 22:48

I eat a dairy rich diet and only poop twice a day max.

Delighted for you.

nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 22:48

@Plantsarepeopletoo
Cows are wonderful animals.

OP posts:
PlantsArePeopleToo · 12/08/2018 22:49

@nonnatushouse

They're okay I guess.

nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 22:50

And it amazes me how many people react with hostility whenever the word 'vegan' is mentioned

Funnily, enough, the vegans on this thread have actually shown more hostility towards the dairy and meat consumers.

OP posts:
nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 22:50

@Plantsarepeopletoo I wouldn’t be without them

OP posts:
PlantsArePeopleToo · 12/08/2018 22:51

Funnily, enough, the vegans on this thread have actually shown more hostility towards the dairy and meat consumers.

Yet you were the one who started the thread.

watsmyname · 12/08/2018 22:53

.

nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 22:55

Yes, because I was surprised to hear that people actually believe that’s there’s Pus, antibiotics and blood in milk!

I wasn’t bashing vegans, my OP doesn’t even mention the word ‘vegan’.

OP posts:
PlantsArePeopleToo · 12/08/2018 22:56

Cool story bro.

nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 22:56

😂😂😂 how childish!

OP posts:
PlantsArePeopleToo · 12/08/2018 22:57

Oh dear.

harshbuttrue1980 · 12/08/2018 23:02

OP, I take your point about your brother raising dairy bulls, but do you admit that a lot of newborn male calves are killed?

I agree that the older mother cows go into the food chain, and meat eaters shouldn't have a problem with this part of the industry.

The reason why cows produce so much milk is because you farmers have bred them that way. Also, if that was really the case, then couldn't you leave the cow with her calf and there would be enough milk for her calf and you? "Calf at foot" dairies do this, but they are very rare. And I agree with your point about pets (vegans tend to adopt from shelters rather than buy from breeders), although cats and dogs aren't taken when they are a day old. That seems to be a unique type of cruelty to the dairy industry.

Vanilla, organic milk is better but far from perfect. The cows are outside and not zero grazed. The calves are still taken away when very young, but they are allowed to spend a bit longer with their mothers (can't remember how many days, but not when they are a day old as most farmers do). Male calves are still killed when newborn, and cows too old to give birth still meet a grisly end at the slaughterhouse in return for all of their hard work.

OP, from what I hear from growing up in a farming area, lots of dairy farmers are moaning about not having enough money. Milk is often a loss maker, and is heavily subsidised. When Brexit happens, those subsidies will hopefully be removed and dairy can sink or swim like any other industry. Given people's growing awareness of cruelty in your industry, hopefully a smaller dairy industry will survive mainly focused on organic, calf at foot dairies and people will have less dairy but of a more humane type.

FlipnTwist · 12/08/2018 23:03

There are traces of pus, blood and antibiotic in milk, but the quantities allowed are low and strictly controlled.

honeybeetheoneandonly · 12/08/2018 23:08

I've come across an article recently where a small group of dairy farmers decided to go with an ethical approach. Their cows already lived outdoors anyway, but they stopped removing the calves after birth and just milked them alongside their calves until they were weaned (after which the cows still produced milk).
I would have loved to know how much their milk cost and wondered whether it was commercially viable. I also don't remember whether it mentioned what they did with the offspring after weaning. But it got me thinking about the whole ethical approach to meat and dairy and whether it would ever be possible in mass production.

MynameisJune · 12/08/2018 23:08

What about the fact that the red meat industry, which probably includes milking cattle to, is one of the largest creators worldwide of greenhouse gasses and one of the main reasons for de-forestation of the worlds rain forests. Not to mention the obscene amount of water it takes to raise cattle and slaughter them.

Whether anyone likes the idea or not, worldwide we are reaching critical mass with our cattle/milk farming industry. The demand is too high and it’s unsustainable for the planet.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 12/08/2018 23:10

If we didn't have cows for milk or meat we wouldn't have cows.

I hate to hear this argument! I'm sure that a couple of hundred years ago people were saying "If we didn't have black people to work the plantations, then we wouldn't have black people".

A) It is untrue, and

B) It doesn't justify an unacceptable system.

A life lived as it's intended to be lived trumps your desire to see a cow grazing in a field.

nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 23:12

If the subsidies are removed then you can expect to see a lot of smaller farms fold, expect to eat a lot more imported food from places where the welfare standards aren’t anywhere near as high as the UK’s. Also expect to see bigger scale factory farms. It’s not the big factory farms with the zero grazing tha will be hit if subsidies are taken away, it’ll be your small time, free range farms.

It feels like farmers are begrudged subsidies but what they give out is just pocket change to the UK government. We’re an island nation. We have to eat.

I’ve never heard of anyone round here killing bull calves. As @Scrowy mentioned above, the use of sexed semen means that most calves are heifers (who will be reared as replacement cows) and farmers will also use a beef breed stock bull to get a calf which will be more suited for meat when reared.

OP posts:
Heartbreaker83 · 12/08/2018 23:13

I find it bizarre that we are grossed out by women’s breastmilk but are perfectly happy to drink an animals breastmik Confused

nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 23:16

Heartbreaker83 where has anyone mentioned.that they're grossed out by women’s breast milk?

OP posts:
QueenDoris · 12/08/2018 23:22

I am very disappointed to read the OP. Does this mean I need to pay extra for pus enriched milk. Or should I do it myself by squeezing my spots into my morning glass of white stuff?

cdtaylornats · 12/08/2018 23:25

More and more dairy bull calves are turned into Rose Veal.

nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 23:25

@QueenDoris

Hilarious

OP posts:
nonnatushouse · 12/08/2018 23:27

@cdtaylornats
Where have you got that information from?

OP posts:
BanginChoons · 12/08/2018 23:28

Dairy cows produce far too much milk for one calf. If left to their own devices, the calves would drink too much and end up with scours (calf diahrrea) which isn’t pleasant and can lead to dehydration and death.

Lactation works on a supply/demand basis. A dairy cow will only overproduce if she is milked alongside feeding her calf, otherwise she will produce the amount required by her calf.

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