Presentation

https://prezi.com/view/TwE4y1cY46CIP7woJ93p/

Book final

Content draft and planning

ToC recap

Drafts for book content 1

Opinion piece on dairy needs

http://www.newsweek.com/cows-who-needs-em-stop-drinking-milk-594748

TOC diagram/poster

Survey responses and drawn insight

Articles on cow farming

http://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/real-talk-milk/

A newborn calf is separated from its mother within days, if not hours. It’s an uncomfortable fact that some cows are in visible emotional distress when separated from their calves so soon after birth. According to some farmers, the mothers moan with big, sad eyes, sometimes for days. (Although some dairy producers claim that not all cows are natural mothers. According to Ronny Osofsky of Ronnybrook Farm, one of the most sustainable milk and yogurt producers in upstate New York, some cows are maternal and some are not. “Some cows feel maternal to every calf they see,” he says.)
The economic reality is that if a calf was free to suckle on her mother for a few months, as nature intended, the cow could well be happier and the calf healthier, but most farmers would lose what little profit there was from their farms. For the cow, a high percentage of milk production comes from this period.

The AWA label, started in 2006 and now recognized by the USDA, is intended to assure consumers that meat and dairy products are produced on farms that are kind to animals. The animals must be grazed and grass-fed and have practices that minimize environmental impact. Not all AWA farms can be organic because one of the requirements is that sick animals receive antibiotics when needed, while organic rules prohibit antibiotic use. On Dan Gibson’s farm, newborn calves stay with their mothers for months. The emphasis is on quality: Ooms produces as much milk from two of his large Holsteins as Gibson can with his herd of 50 small brown Jersey cows (13 of which are being milked). Jerseys, an old English breed, are rich in butterfat, and one half-gallon glass bottle of Gibson’s milk sells for $7.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy_farming

Use of hormones[edit]

Further information: Bovine somatotropin

It is possible to maintain higher milk production by supplementing cows with growth hormones known as recombinant BST or rBST, but this is controversial due to its effects on animal and possibly human health. The European Union, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have banned its use due to these concerns.^{[citation needed]}

In the US however, no such prohibition exists, and approximately 17.2% of dairy cows are treated in this way.^[34] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that no "significant difference" has been found between milk from treated and non-treated cows^[35] but based on consumer concerns several milk purchasers and resellers have elected not to purchase milk produced with rBST.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_somatotropin

http://www.godairy.co.nz/life-on-the-farm/virtual-farm

One of the main features that sets New Zealand dairy farming apart is the fact our climate means we can grow grass to feed our cow year-round. Eighty-five percent of the cows graze directly from pastures, with only a small amount of supplement added, whereas in Europe and the US, 85% of cows are fed with supplements and have very little access to pasture.

http://extension.psu.edu/animals/dairy/nutrition/forages/pasture/articles-on-pasture-and-grazing/pasture-based-systems-for-dairy-cows-in-the-united-states

https://www.ciwf.com/farm-animals/cows/dairy-cows/

The majority of dairy cows in the US are kept without access to pasture for most of their lives. This is known as “zero grazing,” and is practiced increasingly in large-scale operations in North America and parts of the UK.

In operations where they do not have access to pasture, cows are often housed in sheds. Some sheds have outdoor yards.

http://lacpatrick.com/zero-grazing-the-merits-and-the-costs/

Articles on impact of milk production

Just how green is the white stuff?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/aug/07/milk-environmental-impact
http://www.whitelies.org.uk/environment/environmental-impact
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/the-dairy-industry-and-the-environment/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/dairy

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2008/07/cows_or_beans.html
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2008/05/will_labgrown_meat_save_the_planet.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/business/energy-environment/how-growth-in-dairy-is-affecting-the-environment.html?_r=0
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969714002125

http://theconversation.com/soy-versus-dairy-whats-the-footprint-of-milk-8498

http://e360.yale.edu/features/as_dairy_farms_grow_bigger_new_concerns_about_pollution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZcUrWAK-8Q
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/cows-milk-cruel-unhealthy-product/

Female cows are artificially inseminated shortly after their first birthdays.³ After giving birth, they lactate for 10 months and are then inseminated again, continuing the cycle. Some spend their entire lives standing on concrete floors; others are confined to massive, crowded lots, where they are forced to live amid their own feces. A North Carolina dairy closed its doors following revelations from a whistleblower that the cows were forced to eat, walk and sleep in knee-deep waste.⁴ Please visit PETA.org for more information on this case.

Cows have a natural lifespan of about 20 years and can produce milk for eight or nine years.⁵ However, the stress caused by the conditions on factory farms leads to disease, lameness, and reproductive problems that render cows worthless to the dairy industry by the time that they’re 4 or 5 years old, at which time they are sent to be slaughtered.^6,7

^{Mastitis
Painful inflammation of the mammary glands, or mastitis, is common among cows raised for their milk, and it is one of dairy farms’ most frequently cited reasons for sending cows to slaughter. There are about 150 bacteria that can cause the disease, one of which is E. coli.12 Symptoms are not always visible, so milk’s somatic cell count (SCC) is checked to determine whether the milk is infected. Somatic cells include white blood cells and skin cells that are normally shed from the lining of the udder. As in humans, white blood cells—also known as “pus”—are produced as a means of combating infection. The SCC of healthy milk is below 100,000 cells per milliliter; however, the dairy industry is allowed to combine milk from all the cows in a herd in order to arrive at a “bulk tank” somatic cell count (BTSCC).13 Milk with a maximum BTSCC of 750,000 cells per milliliter can be sold.14 A BTSCC of 700,000 or more generally indicates that two-thirds of the cows in the herd are suffering from udder infections.15}

Human Bodies Fight Cow’s Milk
Besides humans (and companion animals who are fed by humans), no species drinks milk beyond infancy or drinks the milk of another species. Cow’s milk is suited to the nutritional needs of calves, who have four stomachs and gain hundreds of pounds in a matter of months, sometimes weighing more than 1,000 pounds before they are 2 years old.²⁸

Cow’s milk is the number one cause of food allergies among infants and children, according to the American Gastroenterological Association.²⁹ Most people begin to produce less lactase, the enzyme that helps with the digestion of milk, when they are as young as 2 years old. This reduction can lead to lactose intolerance.³⁰ Millions of Americans are lactose intolerant, and an estimated 90 percent of Asian-Americans and 75 percent of Native- and African-Americans suffer from the condition, which can cause bloating, gas, cramps, vomiting, headaches, rashes, and asthma.³¹ A U.K. study showed that people who suffered from irregular heartbeats, asthma, headaches, fatigue, and digestive problems “showed marked and often complete improvements in their health after cutting milk from their diets.”³²

^{http://www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/stop-cattle-cruelty.php}

^{http://metro.co.uk/2016/12/29/undercover-footage-reveals-horrific-cow-abuse-at-uk-dairy-farm-6349343/}

^{http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/is-there-more-cruelty-in-a-glass-of-milk-or-pound-of-beef/}