Dairy and Eggs are Not Cruelty Free

Dairy

Dairy animals do not produce milk unless they have given birth. Their offspring are unwanted by-products of the industry, rarely left with their mothers because they will drink a large portion of the milk. Some are slaughtered at a few days of age and sold as “Bob Veal” others are put into tiny boring, pens, about the size of an average bathroom, and given a few weeks before being slaughtered as veal. Some females are kept to replace the aging females on the dairy farm – these being slaughtered as young as 5 years of age as milk production tends to slow down. Cattle, of course, normally living many years longer.

The majority of dairy cattle are kept indoors for several months while being milked. This is because when out on pasture what they eat effects the taste of the milk. If you see dairy cattle on pasture they are probably not producing milk at that time.

photo by author – a typical dairy barn (not the milking parlor)- note no calves and the cows are resting on cement floors

Rennet is used to manufacture many cheeses. It is an enzyme that comes from the stomach of very young animals. How do we get this enzyme? Quite simply by slaughtering baby animals.

photo by author – same dairy as further above, this is how the calves live before becoming “Veal”

Eggs

Chickens suffer the most cruelty, as anti-cruelty laws for them are not nearly as tough as for other livestock. Even humane slaughter laws (in the USA) which state that other animals must be stunned before being slaughtered, do not apply to chickens (or rabbits, or fish). But that is only the tip of the iceberg for our feathered friends.

By MyName (Ethelred) [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons – battery laying hens

To produce eggs roosters are not needed, as such male chicks are ground up at one day of age. The young hens have their beaks cut, and get their first vaccination then tossed into a brooder to grow up. At about 5 months of age they are crammed 3-5 to a cage for laying eggs. These cages are so small the birds cannot stretch their tiny wings, nor call all lay down at the same time. In the USA the standards for space are lower than in most other parts of the world, allowing each bird less floor space than a piece of paper.

The trimmed beaks prevent them from pecking each other to death out of boredom – however they still often pull feathers from the stress. The hens will lay, on average, one egg per day, which will roll away from them immediately. The mother hen is not even allowed to sit proudly on her egg for a minute.

Hens naturally lay fewer eggs in the winter, to allow their body to rest and grow new feathers. In the case of battery hens (the term used for hens kept to lay eggs like this) they are killed as soon as they stop laying at the end of their first year. Normally hens would continue to lay for several more years.

By Geri Glastra (Witte Leghorns van J.R.S.M.IJpma door Geri Glastra) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

NOTE:  These are the same breed of hens (one is a rooster) as pictured further above.

How to End the Suffering?

We need to it, it’s true, but we don’t need to continue to support cruelty.

A person could choose to give up dairy and eggs, or at least cut back on their consumption of these products. Switching to Soy milk, or soy cheese is always an option.

With eggs, either give them up, or select eggs that are from free range hens. The roosters are still killed while hens are kept, however some smaller farms keep more roosters in proportion than the larger (factory style) farms would – as such supporting local farmers, and farmers markets is often better when buying free range eggs.  Or keep your own hens!

Further Reading

Cruelty of Battery Hens and Intense Egg Production

Where does Veal Come From?

The Dairy Industry may be More Cruel than the Beef Industry

An Egg is NOT a Chickens Abortion

Rennet:  What you didn’t know about Cheese