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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • cduke23@beehaw.orgtoMemes@lemmy.mlWhich are you?
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    1 year ago

    The fun part about that is, if you just let the calves they birthed drink the milk, nothing happens to the mother!

    Just a quick reminder in case anyone didn’t know: no such thing as a dairy cow. Mammals typically lactate after giving birth. Doesn’t matter if it’s a cow or a human. If you intervene in the calf (or baby) in order to harvest the milk, there can be complications if not milked regularly.

    Additionally, cows don’t continue to make milk (just like humans). They need to give birth each time, however you can pump them full of hormones to prolong the lactation in order to maximize the profit.

    That’s part of the reason “dairy” cows only have a life expectancy of 4-5 years in an industrial dairy farming setting vs a ~20 year life expectancy at a sanctuary or in the wild.

    The question is: what happens to the calves? The answer may surprise you /s