What are the ethical issues with producing milk?

Answer 1

Most who don't know about lactation and breastfeeding and such think that milking a cow is synonymous with torture and distress, which couldn't be farther from the truth.

However, a lot of people are concerned with how calves are taken away from their mommas a day or two after they are born so that the milk can be fed to humans. These people say (and they are right) that this goes against Mother Nature, that the calves should stay on the cow until they are big and old enough to be weaned, and the milk should be reserved for the calves, not for humans. In Nature, adult wild animals don't drink milk they drink water, so why are humans going against this?

The other concern is the way cows are treated, as they are fed corn (an unnatural diet for cattle), and kept tied up in a stall all day with no much room to move around. Dairy cows are bred to produce milk and hormones are injected or mixed in with the feed so that they produce more milk for the farmer to sell. Cows, being milked "all the time" (they're only milked for 10 months of the year, actually), break down much sooner than beef cows do and have to be sent to slaughter by the time the are around 5 to 6 years of age.

Many people think that farmers are only in it for the money and don't care about the animals, but this really isn't true. If dairy cows were tortured and mistreated, they wouldn't be giving much milk.

Answer 2

Ice cream is made with at least 11 percent butterfat in order it to be defined as "Ice Cream"