This made me cry. For the babies and the mothers (both links open as PDFs). It is every mother and child's most horrific, agonising nightmare and it is lived out every day by these mothers and children.

Every year, 9 million babies are snatched from their mothers after birth

All females used for milk are torn from their babies shortly after birth. Some try to fight off the attackers, some try to shield their babies with their own bodies, some chase frantically after the transport, some cry pitifully, some withdraw in silent despair. Some go trustingly with their keepers only to return to an empty stall.

They all beg for their babies in language that requires no translation: They bellow, they cry, they moan. Many continue to call for days and nights on end. Some stop eating and drinking. They search feverishly. Many refuse to give up and will return to the empty spot again and again. Some withdraw in silent grief.

They all remember to their last breath the face, the scent, the voice, the gait of every baby they carried for nine months, sundered to, birthed with difficulty, bathed, loved, and never got to know, nurture, protect, and watch live.

After repeated cycles of forced impregnations, painful births, relentless milkings, and crushing bereavements, their spirit gives, their bodies wither, their milk dries up. At the age when, in nature, a female cow would barely enter adulthood, the life of a dairy cow is over. When her milk “production” declines, she and her other “spent” herd mates are trucked off to slaughter. Some are pregnant. All are still lactating.

As they are shoved towards death, they drip milk onto the killing floor.

Every year, millions of newborns are killed for their mothers’ milk

All babies born to females used for milk production are torn from their mothers shortly after birth. They are barely days old, umbilical chords still attached, coats still slick from the birth fluids, legs wobbly, eyes unfocused. They are defenseless. They are frightened. They cry pitifully.

They all beg for their mothers in language that requires no translation. They beg for the life-sustaining warmth of their mothers’ presence, the heartbeat that promised life and protection long before they were born, the comfort of their mothers’ scent and voice, the nourishing milk that is their birthright.

Chained in dark, coffin-sized veal crates, they search feverishly for anybody to bond with, anything to nurse on. Their curious minds cling to any stray object that may break the endless monotony they are forced to endure, any opportunity to learn and expand. Their developing bodies desperately need movement, sunshine, play, nourishment, nurture.

Calves destined for veal are fed a nutrient deficient, anemia inducing diet and are denied any opportunity to move in order to make their
muscles weak and pale enough to be sold as “white veal”. In their critical need for iron, they lick the rusty nails that stick out of the cage walls.

At 4 months old, having never been allowed to move or even turn around in their lives, they are too weak to walk on their own. Men drag them out of their cages by their legs, tails, or ears, shove them into trucks, push them down chutes and prod them onto the killing floor. Still desperate to nurse, many calves try to suckle the fingers of their killers.

All Dairy operations, including Organic, exist solely by doing to millions of defenseless females the worst thing anyone can do to a mother. Dairy consumers support this practice with their purchases.

(Source: Peaceful Prairie)

Can we humans mothers who most certainly feel as acutely as these mothers the pain and agony of the dairy life of losing their children over and over make a difference simply by not choosing to buy dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, beef, veal)?

Yes we can. Every bit counts, whether it is cutting out one dairy food item or all, for one meal a week, or all.

You feel as much as they do. Help them, because we know what it would feel like to lose our children.

Technorati: organic living, humane living, how milk is made, calves killed for their mother's milk, truth behind milk production, veal, milk