barefoot vegan sept_oct issue.pdf

have no sense of self. Increasingly, however, research
is revealing this to be untrue. John Webster,
Emeritus Professor in Animal Husbandry at Bristol
University says: “People have assumed that
intelligence is linked to the ability to suffer and that
because animals have smaller brains they suffer less than
humans. That is a pathetic piece of logic”.
It’s a misconception that cows are docile and stupid.
Research shows that cows nurture friendships, bear
grudges and become excited over intellectual challenges.
Cows are capable of feeling strong emotions such as pain,
fear and anxiety. They worry about the future, but can also
feel great happiness. Similar traits have been found in pigs,
goats, chickens and other animals. Scientists suggest that
such animals may be so emotionally similar to humans
that welfare laws need to be rethought. Christine Nicol,
Professor of Animal Welfare at Bristol University, says:
“Remarkable cognitive abilities and cultural innovations
have been revealed”.
Another misconception is that it is natural for cows to
constantly produce milk. Just like us, a cow only produces
milk after a nine-month pregnancy and birth.
The bucolic image of a cow and her calf in a pastoral
setting is a myth. A modern dairy cow will be confined and
forcibly impregnated shortly after her first birthday, using
restraining apparatus commonly called a ‘rape rack’. Once
she has given birth, her offspring will be taken from her so
that humans can have her milk. She would naturally suckle
her calf for nine months to a year but in dairy farming,
calves are removed within a day or two. Male calves are
unwanted by-products and every year in the UK 100,000 or
more are shot, others being sold for veal production.
She will yield over 20 litres of milk each day, much more
than her calf would naturally drink. To keep up
production, she will be re-impregnated soon after giving
birth. Modern intensive dairy farming employs a highly
regulated regime of pregnancy and lactation concurrently,
meaning that cows are both pregnant and being milked at
the same time for most of the year. Shackles are sometimes
used on her hind legs if she has suffered muscle or nerve
damage during calving and cannot stand unaided.
This intensive physical demand puts a tremendous strain
on the dairy cow and while still young is likely to suffer
82 | BarefootVegan
Milk is the product of
exploitation of the
reproductive capacities
of female bodies – for
profit. To consider this
a feminist issue is an
entirely defensible
political position.
from infertility and severe infections such as mastitis
and laminitis, cutting short her economic and
productive life. These painful ailments are a direct result
of her exploitation. Physically ravaged from the abuse
she has experienced, she is eventually killed to be eaten
in cheap products such as pies and pasties – and baby
food! The average lifespan of a modern dairy cow is
about five years and three or four lactations, when she
could naturally live for 20 to 30 years.
Milk is the product of rape, kidnapping,
torture and murder
Acts of sexual violence or forced sexual activity
performed with animals disgust most people. Why is it
we turn a blind eye to this treatment of dairy cows? Milk
is the product of exploitation of the reproductive
capacities of female bodies – for profit. To consider this a
feminist issue is an entirely defensible political position.
American writer, feminist, activist and animal rights
advocate, Carol J. Adams, says: “I would like to see
reproductive freedom for all female animals, not just
human females”. She was just 23 when she realised a
connection existed between feminism and
vegetarianism, between meat-eating and a patriarchal
world. In her ground-breaking book, The Sexual Politics
of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory, she
examines the links between different forms of violence
used against human and non-human animals.
Cows share with us the basic brain architecture
responsible for emotion. Mother cows feel very
distressed when their offspring are taken from them,
they cry and bellow. They are still grieving as the
milking machines suck the milk from their udders.
Is milk a feminist issue? I would argue that of course it is
and that the sexual and reproductive choices we enjoy
are denied cows. A torturous cycle of physical and
emotional torment is enforced upon them until they
break. Milk comes from a grieving mother. BV >