Once a cow becomes pregnant, she carries her baby in her womb for nine months before giving birth. Just like us. The dairy industry even admits that this practise is extremely problematic, calling it an ‘own goal’: Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing - And some don’t even get six months outside. Because the industry is constantly looking for ways to increase profits, a new system – referred to as ‘zero-graze’ – has been introduced in the UK and it is being used more and more frequently. Stop cow and calf separation Dairy Fact 7: Mastitis and Lameness Are Common Health Issues that Cows Develop

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In a zero-graze system, a cow is not allowed to graze or be outdoors on the grass. Instead, she is fed silage (wet, fermented grass) and a high concentrate mix of cereal, soya, sunflower meal and maize.Cows in the dairy industry are bred specifically to produce far larger quantities of milk than they would ever produce naturally. This unnatural milk production, combined with repeated forced pregnancies, takes a toll on their bodies. By the time they are a few years old, they are seen as ‘unproductive’ – because they’re so exhausted and their milk production has declined – and no longer profitable to the industry. Help us stop this: sign the petition Dairy Fact 2: Male Calves Born In The Dairy Industry Are Sent to Slaughter The majority of cows in the UK are stunned with a captive-bolt pistol. Once stunned they are hung upside down by one leg, lifted onto an overhead conveyor and moved to the ‘bleed area’. Here their throats are cut and they are left to bleed out. Stunning can be ineffective and some cows have their throats cut while still conscious. Dairy Fact 4: Cows In The Dairy Industry Could Never See A Pasture Not only that, but the dairy industry is pushing our planet to its limits. Like all animal agriculture, it is a driving force behind species extinction, deforestation, water scarcity, land overuse and global antibiotic resistance. Producing a glass of dairy milk every day for a year needs land as large as the size of two tennis courts - that’s ten times the land needed for oat milk. In 1975, a cow used for her milk produced around 4,100 litres of milk per year. Today a cow will produce double that amount: 8,200 litres of milk per year, which is an average of 22 litres per day.

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Some of the most common health problems that cows develop are metabolic starvation, mastitis and lameness.

Just like humans, cows only produce milk for their babies. For this reason, once a cow is around 15 months of age, she is artificially impregnated – for the first time. Another common disease resulting from continued milking over a period of several years is mastitis, an infection of the udder which causes secretion of pus. Up to 50% of cows used for their dairy suffer from mastitis. Once she gives birth, she starts producing milk for her newborn calf – milk that her baby would naturally drink during the first 10 months of his or her life. With 1 in 3 Brits now reported to be consuming plant-based milks on a regular basis, the nation is stepping away from supporting this industry. This is unsurprising, since the UK prides itself on being a nation of animal lovers and the world is all too aware of the climate catastrophe that is already rearing its ugly head.

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This tragic fate has been defined by many as the ‘dairy’s dirty secret’ and long criticised by animal protection organisations, as well as the general public. According to a 2020 report, every year in the UK an estimated 60,000 male calves– approximately 15% of all male calves born in the dairy industry – were shot on-farm. Armistice Day: A Collection of Remembrance - Spark Interest and Educate Children about Historical Moments The process of artificial insemination is distressing, as she is forced into a confined space where a farmer inserts an inseminating gun in her vagina to deposit sperm. While doing this, the farmer inserts one arm in the cow’s anus to manually manipulate her reproductive organs. This draining cycle of pregnancies, births and milk production is extremely hard on them, which is why often they develop severe diseases or physical ailments. Many die from these diseases or are killed as a result.Due to increasing pressure from the public and animal welfare organisations, retailers have started to implement new rules to limit the killing of male calves, which were planned to come into force by the end of 2021.