LOUDER THAN WORDS ART AND ACTIVISM
ETHICS
COW'S MILK IS FOR CALVES
In collaboration with VINE Sanctuary vinesanctuary.org
LOUDER THAN WORDS is thrilled to announce our collaboration with VINE Sanctuary, an LGBTQ-led farmed animal sanctuary that works for social and environmental justice and animal liberation. LOUDER THAN WORDS and VINE are launching a nationwide campaign exposing the unsavory truth about cow's milk.
The dairy industry has cast a marketing spell over our eyes, implanting a kaleidoscopic lens through which their incessantly cruel, dirty, and unjust practices appear as sauntering happy cows in rolling green fields. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Please read more below.)
Los Angeles, Von's grocery store
Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK
Boston, Safeway grocery store
Los Angeles, Joan's on Third
Cows suffer at dairies.
Like humans and all mammals, cows produce milk to nourish their offspring. The dairy industry wants you to forget that for cows to produce milk, they must give birth. All dairy farms, regardless of size, forcibly impregnate cows. Like humans, pregnancy in cows lasts nine months - nine months of feeling your baby inside, and nine months of a deep emotional bond. And then, tragedy. Shortly after birth, once the mother's milk has started to flow, the calf is torn away. The mother cows bellow and wail for their calves. The calves do the same.
Farmers place male calves into veal crates or otherwise kill and dispose of them. Female calves are fed formula until they are old enough to follow their mother's fate—a cycle of generational trauma.
Once a mother's milk-yield drops to levels at which they stop creating profit for the farmers, cows are sent off to slaughter. This harrowing, traumatic, painful process occurs time and time again. A cow, on average, can give birth six, seven, and sometimes more times in her life. Imagine this lifetime of suffering.
Cows are unique individuals.
Through marketing and media, animal agriculture has fooled us into thinking that cows are all the same, that they aren't very intelligent, or that they don't have personality. It's easy to dismiss their suffering when we believe they are automated drones. But it's inaccurate. Some cows are outgoing; others are shy. They are curious, creative and determined, and above all else, they are deeply social. Cows will do anything to stay with their family and friends. They babysit their friend's kids, and when adult cows play with calves, they often let the calves win!
Calves are playful and mischievous; they run and play like human children. They also yearn for their mother's love and comfort. Like human mothers, cows will do anything to feed, protect, and stay close to their calves.
Cows fight back.
Mother cows don't just mourn their calves, they mourn deeply. They often try everything in their power to keep their babies safe. Take Norma; a VINE Sanctuary resident rescued from a dairy farm. She injured a dairy worker after he tried to separate her from her calf. Or Ebony, who escaped a dairy farm while pregnant. Think of the millions of stories we don't get to hear of mothers' resistance.
The dairy industry has cast a marketing spell over our eyes, implanting a kaleidoscopic lens through which their incessantly cruel, dirty, and unjust practices appear as sauntering happy cows in rolling green fields. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It's time to encourage the adoption of plant-based menus in cafeterias within public institutions, including schools, hospitals, and government facilities. (Please note: estimates for lactose intolerance vary by ethnicity. African American and Asian ethnicities see a 75%-95% lactose intolerance rate, while northern Europeans have a lower rate at 18%-26% lactose intolerance. The government needs to stop subsidizing the dairy industry by providing milk to children whose learning is compromised by dairy milk.)
The dairy industry hurts us all. But more than anything, it hurts the cows. It systemically ruptures the bond between mothers and their children, tearing families apart. It exploits reproductive systems and forces pregnancy and birth. It makes us sick, upholds racial inequalities, and destroys our environment. And it causes suffering beyond compare, on a scale too large to comprehend. It must end.
Please join us in our campaign against dairy in collaboration with VINE Sanctuary. Share our stickers, get involved, speak truth to dairy, and ditch cow's milk.
Left: Los Angeles, Car Wash Right: Ralph's Grocery Store
