If a cow isn’t treated with artificial growth hormones, does that mean they weren’t forceably inpregnated?
Posted on | August 31, 2009 |
I just recently found out about the cruel milking process that most cows go through, and I’ve decided to try to take some steps towards not being a part of it. I’m not looking for any body’s opinion on my personal choice, but I did have a question (as stated above) about it.
Category: Growth Hormone Questions
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7 Responses to “If a cow isn’t treated with artificial growth hormones, does that mean they weren’t forceably inpregnated?”
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August 31st, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
Orgainc farmers don’t use growth hormone shots, but they do artificially inseminate their cattle. It is incorrect to use terms like "forceably inpregnated," when talking about animals. Cattle are like dogs and cats, when they go into heat the farmer artificially inseminates them with a turkey baster type device. They do this for the cow’s protection since bull sometimes injures the cow.
BTW: I don’t use dairy myself.
August 31st, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
No, dairy cows are not treated with those. There babies are not either.
If it is a female it grows up and becomes a dairy cow. If it was treated with growth hormones it would become infertile. Males are not either b/c they are eaten as babies. Veal, gross.
But, yes, they are artificially impregnated.
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August 31st, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
All cows that are milked for human consumption are continuously impregnated. They have to continually give birth to continue to lactate.
Try soy milk, almond milk (my fave), rice milk (my husband’s fave) or even hemp milk as alternatives to cow’s milk. I don’t think you’ll miss it at all. :o)
August 31st, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
"Cows get a happy life in MOST places, they get good grass, water and large areas to roam. If you’ve seen stuff from PETA then they nit picked to find THE WORSE. The worse ones give honest abe farmers a bad name."
This comment is absurd and ignorant. The HSUS did an undercover investigation at a RANDOM slaughterhouse last year, causing the recall of 300 million pounds of beef. If you pay attention to the news at all you would know this.
August 31st, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
No it means they get a shot to over produce milk. This makes their milk sacs very full and huge. So huge that sometimes they drag on the floor and are way too heavy for the cow which causes a lot of pain.
a lot of milks now do say on them ‘no artificial growth hormone’ which is good.
(however there is still cruelty to the cow. so you can either get the ones w/o hormones or just go to soy milk
)
August 31st, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
Well as an educated individual on dairy cattle husbandry I can tell you no cow is "force-ably impregnated." Cows come into heat every 21 days until bred. They rant and bellow around until they are bred. They are very obnoxious and annoying during this time. They follow you around mooing in your face until someone breeds them. They don’t really care how they get bred, they just want bred. This is what their bodies tell them to do, they can’t change it. Bulls are not commonly kept as they are dangerous for both humans and cows.
As for growth hormones; They are not sex hormones, hence the name "growth hormone." So obviously they do not cause infertility, duh. They are only given during the middle third of lactation. They increase production to an extra 10 pounds of milk per day. That’s it. It does not cause their udders to drag the ground or hurt them in any other nonsense way. It is very easy to find milk that came from "non-hormone" farms, if you don’t like that fact.
To answer your initial question, being pregnant and being given hormones are not related. Cows give birth every 13 months. Their lactation is normally 305 days long (depending on the cow). As I said before, rBST is given during the middle third, if given at all. After the 305 days, the cows go on vacation for about 45 days to 3 months (depending on how the lactation went), until they give birth.
Everything is created around the cow. The cow decides how everything is designed and operated, from barn layout to milking procedure. If you don’t like how the dairy industry does things, blame the cow.
And if you think we can’t understand the cow and figure out what she wants and needs to be content and comfortable, you obvioulsy know nothing about animals. If you think that farmers don’t care, you obviously know nothing about farmers.
Just a note to add about cmdynamitefreckles’s post.
It is a growth hormone used in dairy cattle. It is called bovine somatotropin (BST). It is a protein hormone that stimulates growth in the calf. This protein makes the cow think she has recently calved and thus, increases her milk production. Humans do not have receptors to the cattle growth hormone. It is digested and broken down into amino acids, just like any other protein you eat.
The hormones used in beef production are forms of the sex hormones Estrogen or Progesterone. This is a steroid hormone. There is a withdrawl period and the amount given is so low, so none of the beef you eat has any higher hormone levels than normal.
August 31st, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
When you’re talking about "growth hormones" you are talking about beef cattle. There is a big difference in beef cattle and dairy cattle. One is bred specifically to milk and the other is bred specifically to produce beef. Many people don’t know the difference. Yes, some producers of beef cattle do use growth hormones but we, personally don’t on our ranch because the American consumer does not want it in their meat and also because the rate of gain doesn’t warrant the high cost. Our cows are not forcibly impregnated either. We have bulls and the cows are very willing to cooperate. It isn’t any different than humans really. If the cow isn’t in the mood, the bull doesn’t get to breed her. Those of you that believe everything you see on the internet ought to really spend some time at a farm or ranch and form your own opinions. Often you get very slanted information from people trying to get money out of you. Our cows have a very good life with a big pasture to roam around in, plenty to eat and drink and an occasional scratch if they want it. I agree the footage from t.v. about the downer cattle scandal was horrible, but here in Kansas you can’t slaughter a cow that can’t walk off the trailer on her own. It doesn’t matter if she broke a leg or what.