The dairy industry is feeling the growing threat from vegan activism, and Julaine Treur of Dairy Farmers of Canada gives a perfect example of this in her latest blog, “Milk Myths Debunked: Dairy is Scary- or Not?”
In it, she attacks Erin Janus’ ‘Dairy is Fucking Scary,’ a viral blog about the horrors of the dairy industry. Janus provides a thorough (or as Treur says, ‘gleeful’) explanation as to exactly how and why the industry commits such atrocities against cows, calves, and steer. What Treur calls a misrepresentation is really just the exposure of some harsh truths that milk drinkers might find don’t go down too easily, especially in regards to attitudes towards the reproductive systems of nonhuman animals.
Let’s all pay attention to the fact that Treur makes a huge amount of her rebuttals in regards to her OWN “happy exploitation” farm. She continually refers to her cows, her calves, her property. “Along with our fellow Canadian dairy farmers, we are committed to continuously improving animal welfare,” says Treur. Glad it’s such a “process!”
Perhaps the most horrifying debunk she attempts is how disdainfully dairy farms treat cow’s female anatomy. “Yes, semen is collected from bulls. However, this is not done on a dairy farm, but at specialized facilities that house these bulls for this purpose,” she tells us, defending the human masturbation of the animals. “And it’s not the sexually charged ordeal that Ms. Janus makes it out to be. Sex in animals does not involve emotion, but rather is a biological imperative to reproduce, not an act of love.” I’m sorry, but how royally fucked up is this? In what hellscape do we live in that is perfect fine with messing around and exploiting sexual organs because it isn’t seen as “an act of love?” I personally felt a sickness to my core while reading this, as it’s an argument that thrives on a culture that has normalized sexual abuse in not just nonhumans, but human women as well. It’s an open door to saying that if someone doesn’t respond to emotion, that it’s acceptable to manipulate their genitals. This biological imperative she describes takes place between sentient animals responding to their instinct. A man inserting semen into a cow’s vagina is no biological imperative, it’s the means to a profit. It’s a way to make money. Nobody would be doing this bizarre, hideous act if it didn’t result in cash for the exploiters. “Cows sometimes are restrained by a halter to help to keep them still and minimize the chances of them hurting themselves or their handlers,” Treur continues. Talk about rape culture in action.
When it comes to the stealing of calves from their mothers, she writes, “The truth is, many dairy cows don’t have much of a mothering instinct. Sad as it may sound, farmers can often do a better job taking care of a calf than a dairy cow can!” Do you think that maybe this is the result of the way cows have been bred in excess, Treur? Sounds like a problem you’ve created yourselves. As for your assertion that cows and calves don’t cry for each other, farmers themselves admit that this is a huge problem, and have come up with ways to promote weight gain in depressed calves for their own benefit.
One can only hope that dairy farmers don’t just rethink their treatment of animals as sexual objects to be taken from, but realize that using animals at all is a cruel act.
Source: eCorazzi
