GuelphToday received the following letter to the editor from reader Christopher Phillips in response to our article U of G gets big money to improve dairy sustainability, herd health.
I was shocked and horrified after reading this article.
In a world where many plant-based milks exist and are already produced far more sustainably than can be possible when raising cows, this injection of money from the NSERC Alliance program seems not only wasteful, but inherently cruel.
Although the National Dairy Research Strategy clearly claims “care and welfare practices” as one of their primary goals, this project has no intention of improving the welfare of cows.
As Dr. Stephen LeBlanc stated in the article, “Biologically and economically, the goal is for a cow to have a calf once every 12 months” and “The goal is to optimize fertility.”
Meaning if a cow can give birth every year, they must give birth every year because that makes the industry the most money. Yet this ignores that by the industry’s own admission cows are very caring and maternal animals, and that mother cows will mourn the loss of their calves for days, sometimes weeks. And we want to subject them to this experience every year so we can steal the milk that is meant for their baby?
This is not an investment that we should celebrate. Their attempt to greenwash their intentions must not be overlooked but seen for what they are. This is an unethical industry’s desperate attempt to continue to raise and slaughter nearly 1 million dairy cows every year.
Our future has no room for the environmentally destructive and cruel practices the dairy and veal industry continue to uphold. I can’t imagine many farmers love watching the cows they claim to care about be slaughtered year after year. The time has come for the industry and the government of Canada to work together to help these farmer’s transition to the plant-based future we need.
Christopher Phillips
