This commentary is by Madeline Cowan, a resident of Northfield.
Before I begin, I want to make a quick note on terminology. Yes, I know that the word “cow” technically refers to female cattle. However, because many people use the word “cow” to refer to either male or female animals, that’s how I’ll be using it here. Apologies in advance to any farmers or vocab purists!
Have you ever wondered why there are so few male cows in Vermont?
Think about it — the last time you drove past a farm, you probably saw rows of female cows standing in milking stalls or hanging around in a field. But when’s the last time you saw a bull?
Most of us probably haven’t given this phenomenon much thought, but it’s an interesting one. Vermont has more than 100,000 dairy cows, and each of those cows needs to give birth roughly once a year to continue producing milk. If each pregnancy has about a 50% chance of producing a male calf naturally, where do all of those male calves go?
Well, first of all, the proportion of male calves born in Vermont is probably much lower than 50%. Today, most of the dairy industry relies on artificial insemination to impregnate cows. And because female dairy calves have a much higher economic value than males, some farmers choose to invest in a more expensive insemination method that increases the odds of female births.
While this sex selection method is becoming more popular, many farmers don’t use it. That means the sex of a significant number of calves is still left to chance. So, while modern science has probably reduced the proportion of male calves born in Vermont, some dairy farmers still end up with large numbers of males that they don’t need.
Those farmers have a few options for dealing with their unwanted calves.
The first option is to sell them to veal manufacturers. In the U.S., veal (the meat of young cows) comes almost entirely from male calves that are born on dairy farms. The lifespan of calves sold into the veal industry depends on the type of veal being produced. Some manufacturers slaughter male calves right away when they are just a few weeks old. Others raise the calves in small indoor pens before slaughtering them at about six months of age.
The use of pens limits the calves’ muscle development as they grow, allowing the manufacturer to produce larger cows with more veal without losing that characteristic veal tenderness.
The other option is for farmers to sell calves into the conventional beef industry. Calves sold in this way are transported to feedlots, where they’ll live for about 18 months before they’re slaughtered as adults and processed into beef.
Interestingly, the symbiotic relationship between Vermont’s dairy farms and the beef industry doesn’t end there. You may have noticed that, in addition to skewing female, Vermont’s cow population also skews very young. Odds are good that you’ve never seen an old, gray dairy cow that’s at the end of its natural 15- to 20-year lifespan. That’s because dairy farmers in Vermont and elsewhere typically sell their milk-producing cows to beef manufacturers once those cows reach 5 or 6 years old.
This practice, which is called “culling,” enables dairy farmers to replace middle-aged cows whose milk production is declining with younger cows that are more productive and therefore more profitable. This practice is so widespread that 20% of all beef consumed in America comes from these culled dairy cows.
You may be wondering whether the types of practices I’m describing here are isolated to larger farms. They are not. These practices are the industry standard for commercial dairy farms of all sizes — large and small. They are the industry standard even for farms that make sincere, well-intentioned efforts to improve their cows’ quality of life and that market their products with concepts like “happy cows.”
Marketing aside, the reality is that almost every dairy cow you’ll ever see in a Vermont field, whether that cow is happy or not, will be slaughtered for meat within six years of its birth. If this fact makes you uncomfortable, if it does not align with the way dairy has been marketed to you in Vermont and elsewhere, then I encourage you to consider taking small steps to eat fewer products made from animal milk.
This can look different for different people. Maybe for you it’s swapping out conventional butter for a non-dairy option, eating your crackers with hummus instead of cheese, trying a new plant-based coffee creamer, or switching to the non-dairy Ben and Jerry’s pints (which are delicious and cost the same as conventional in many stores).
You don’t need to stop eating traditional dairy altogether to make a difference (although you can if you want to). And if you’re not convinced, pay attention the next time you drive past a dairy farm. You may be surprised to find yourself caring just a little more about the animals behind the fence now that you understand what their lives are really like.
