Active Stocks
Thu Mar 28 2024 14:59:25
  1. Tata Steel share price
  2. 156.00 2.06%
  1. HDFC Bank share price
  2. 1,452.00 0.78%
  1. ITC share price
  2. 429.85 0.43%
  1. Power Grid Corporation Of India share price
  2. 277.70 2.45%
  1. State Bank Of India share price
  2. 754.75 2.82%
Business News/ Opinion / If it’s about saving the cow, reform the dairy industry first
BackBack

If it’s about saving the cow, reform the dairy industry first

A happy cow that blissfully chews the cud and indulgently offers its milk for human consumption is just a myth

It is common for most commercial tabelas, or milch farmers, to pump oxytocin, a hormone, and incidentally a banned drug, into cows and buffaloes. The indiscriminate use of oxytocin is one of the dark secrets of the dairy industry. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/MintPremium
It is common for most commercial tabelas, or milch farmers, to pump oxytocin, a hormone, and incidentally a banned drug, into cows and buffaloes. The indiscriminate use of oxytocin is one of the dark secrets of the dairy industry. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint

Disclaimer: One of the perils of writing on the state of the holy cow is that you get branded—either as an undercover Peta (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) agent or a Hindu nationalist seeking to impose their world view on others. So let me start by stating that I’m neither. What I do wish to reiterate through this piece is that if saving the holy cow is central to those involved in the anti-beef campaign, perhaps they should turn their attention to how the poor bovine is treated by the milk industry—a happy cow that blissfully chews the cud and indulgently offers its milk for human consumption is just a myth.

Social media is ablaze with the ‘B’ word: I ate a cow; no, I did not. Sadly, in all this brouhaha, not one but three men have lost their lives. Politicians are milking the opportunity (pun unintended); yet, no one has commented on how India treats its cows from letting them forage on plastic in garbage dumps to an exploitative milch industry that pumps toxic hormones in them to flush out more milk.

The National Dairy Development Board informs us quite proudly that India’s milk production increased from 21.2 million tonnes in 1968-69 to 132 million tonnes in 2012-13, and that India is number one milk producer. We revere cows as mothers, but here’s what we do to her for that glass of milk every morning.

It is common for most commercial tabelas, or milch farmers, to pump oxytocin, a hormone, and incidentally a banned drug, into cows and buffaloes. The indiscriminate use of oxytocin is one of the dark secrets of the dairy industry.

On injecting the drug, the milk, which is otherwise stored in the udder of the cattle for its calves, is also released, giving a few additional litres of milk.

Consumption of oxytocin-injected milk has health implications for humans, leading to early onset of puberty, facial hair and reproductive diseases. It’s bad for the cow, and it’s bad for all of us.

Not just hormones, for dairy farming to be highly productive, animals are made to calve at least once a year. Every step of the life cycle of a cow involves exploitation and cruelty—from inducing frequent pregnancies to the pumping of hormones to the separation of calves once she has given birth. As soon as the calf is born, male or female, it is given only restricted access to the mother.

This thus leads to extra milk available, which is then diverted for human use. The male calves are either sent for slaughter or let loose to starve. Some may be used for breeding; others are used as draught animals and subject to nose-roping, whipping and hard labour until they are old and weak. Then, they are marked for slaughter.

So, the healthy female cow that is revered is actually kept alive for a repeated cycle of impregnation, separation, painful milking, oxytocin shots and mastitis. And yet this common fact is conveniently overlooked by all cow-loving friends. The ban on cow slaughter may be a fundamental plank for promoting the Hindutva agenda, but I suspect it has very little to do with improving the conditions of the holy cow.

As I stated in the beginning, while I believe in freedom of choice, if the holy cow is what we are concerned about, then the anti-beef campaigners should first give up drinking milk. Or, perhaps, campaign for reforms in the dairy industry. Now that’s a campaign we would all applaud.

Bahar Dutt is a conservation biologist and author of the book Green Wars: Dispatches From A Vanishing World.

Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it's all here, just a click away! Login Now!

Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
More Less
Published: 23 Oct 2015, 12:15 AM IST
Next Story footLogo
Recommended For You
Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App