Milk Fever.

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" Milk Fever. "

 

Traditional small dairies, located primarily in the Northeast and

Midwest, are going out of business. They are being replaced by

intensive 'dry lot' dairies, which are typically located in the

Southwest U.S.

 

Regardless of where they live, however, all dairy cows must give

birth in order to begin producing milk. Today, dairy cows are forced

to have a calf every year. Like human beings, cows have a nine-month

gestation period, and so giving birth every twelve months is

physically demanding. The cows are also artificially re-impregnated

while they are still lactating from their previous birthing, so

their bodies are still producing milk during seven months of their

nine-month pregnancy.

 

With genetic manipulation and intensive production technologies, it

is common for modern dairy cows to produce 100 pounds of milk a day —

ten times more than they would produce naturally. As a result, the

cows' bodies are under constant stress, and they are at risk for

numerous health problems.

 

Approximately half of the country's dairy cows suffer from mastitis,

a bacterial infection of their udders. This is such a common and

costly ailment that a dairy industry group, the National Mastitis

Council, was formed specifically to combat the disease. Other

diseases, such as Bovine Leukemia Virus, Bovine Immunodeficiency

Virus, and Johne's disease (whose human counterpart is Crohn's

disease) are also rampant on modern dairies, but they commonly go

unnoticed because they are either difficult to detect or have a long

incubation period.

A cow eating a normal grass diet could not produce milk at the

abnormal levels expected on modern dairies, and so today's dairy

cows must be given high energy feeds. The unnaturally rich diet

causes metabolic disorders including ketosis, which can be fatal,

and laminitis, which causes lameness.

 

Another dairy industry disease caused by intensive milk production

is " Milk Fever. " This ailment is caused by calcium deficiency, and

it occurs when milk secretion depletes calcium faster than it can be

replenished in the blood.

 

In a healthy environment, cows would live in excess of twenty-five

years, but on modern dairies, they are slaughtered and made into

ground beef after just three or four years. The abuse wreaked upon

the bodies of dairy cows is so intense that the dairy industry also

is a huge source of " downed animals " — animals who are so sick or

injured that they are unable to walk even stand. Investigators have

documented downed animals routinely being beaten, dragged, or pushed

with bulldozers in attempts to move them to slaughter.

 

Although the dairy industry is familiar with the cows' health

problems and suffering associated with intensive milk production, it

continues to subject cows to even worse abuses in the name of

increased profit. Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), a synthetic hormone,

is now being injected into cows to get them to produce even more

milk. Besides adversely affecting the cows' health, BGH also

increases birth defects in their calves.

 

Calves born to dairy cows are separated from their mothers

immediately after birth. The half that are born female are raised to

replace older dairy cows in the milking herd. The other half of the

calves are male, and because they will never produce milk, they are

raised and slaughtered for meat. Most are killed for beef, but about

one million are used for veal.

 

The veal industry was created as a by-product of the dairy industry

to take advantage of an abundant supply of unwanted male calves.

Veal calves commonly live for eighteen to twenty weeks in wooden

crates that are so small that they cannot turn around, stretch their

legs, or even lie down comfortably. The calves are fed a liquid milk

substitute, deficient in iron and fiber, which is designed to make

the animals anemic, resulting in the light-colored flesh that is

prized as veal. In addition to this high-priced veal, some calves

are killed at just a few days old to be sold as low-grade 'bob' veal

for products like frozen TV dinners.

 

http://www.factoryfarming.com/dairy.htm