Many people picture milk as something cows make naturally all the time. So do dairy cows have to be pregnant to produce milk? Yes. Like every mammal, including humans, a cow naturally produces milk only after she gives birth, and that milk is meant to feed her calf.
How do dairy cows keep producing milk?
To keep milk flowing, the dairy industry keeps cows pregnant again and again. Most cows are artificially inseminated, and they give birth to a calf about once a year. Their pregnancies last roughly nine months, about the same as a human pregnancy.
After a cow gives birth, workers milk her for around 10 months. During much of that time, she is already pregnant with her next calf. This cycle repeats until she's sent to be killed.
What happens to the calves on dairy farms?
Calves on dairy farms are usually taken from their mothers within hours or days of birth so their mothers’ milk can be collected and sold. Mother cows have been documented calling out for their calves for days after separation.
What happens next depends on the calf’s sex. Many female calves are raised to replace older cows and enter the same cycle of pregnancy and milking as their mothers. Since dairy cows need to be pregnant to produce milk, male calves can’t produce milk, so they are often sold to be raised and killed for veal or beef.
How long do dairy cows live?
A cow can live up to 20 years. On most dairy farms, she is sent to slaughter at around 4 or 5 years old, often because of infertility, udder infections, or because she produces less milk than her herdmates. Years of constant pregnancy and milking take a heavy physical toll.
Do dairy cows produce milk without being pregnant?
Like other mammals, dairy cows only naturally start producing milk due to pregnancy. There may be unnatural ways to begin the lactation, such as some hormone treatments, but it’s too expensive and impractical to implement at scale. Plus, wouldn't change the fact we’re seeing the cow as a resource for us when we take her milk, nor would it eliminate welfare concerns like poor living conditions, mastitis, and being killed as soon as it is more profitable to do so.
What are the best alternatives to dairy milk?
The good news is that grocery stores now stock a wide range of plant-based milks that work in coffee, cereal, baking and cooking:
Soy milk: high in protein and great for baking
Oat milk: creamy and ideal for coffee drinks
Almond milk: light with a mild, nutty flavor
Pea milk: protein-rich with a neutral taste
Now that you know why cows make milk, choose a plant-based milk on your next shopping trip. That single swap helps spare cows and calves from a lifetime of repeated pregnancies and separations, and it shows how much power each of us has to change the food system.