Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Be Kind to Animals

When I was a kid my mother used to call me "The little mother of all the world" because I loved animals and little kids and was always concerned about any who were hurt. I guess some things are never outgrown because I'm still that way.
Our milk cartons all say the milk comes from cows not treated with rBST and I had no idea why they thought it important not to use it. RBST is an artificial growth hormone and I figured it was just one more thing people concerned with their health try to avoid. I've heard drinking milk from those cows might make kids reach puberty earlier.
Now I know using the growth hormone is cruel to cows. It doesn't just make them grow or reach maturity faster, it makes them produce so much milk their udders become huge enough to drag on the ground when the cow walks. If you've ever nursed a baby you can imagine how painful that must be.
Using RBST actually tortures cows so their owners can sell more milk and make more money. I'm glad the milk we buy isn't from cows treated so cruelly and from now on I'll never buy another brand without making sure it isn't either.

2 comments:

richlane said...

Janet, I applaud your devotion to animals. I too am a huge animal lover. I have also lived and worked on a dairy farm for 50 years. I am sorry to tell you, but the size of a cow's udder is not determined by the amount of milk she gives. I have milked cows for many years some received rbST and some did not. I never say one treated with rbST who udder blew up to that size. It just doesn't happen. All of the cows were perfectly healthy. In fact, our vet would quite off prescribe it for some cows to help them recover from calving. It also doesn't add ANYTHING to the milk you drink. The components of milk produced with and without rbST are identical. There is no test available that can determine the difference between the 2 milks. I assure you I love my cows and would not do anything to harm them and rbST doesn't. This is a scare tactic that has been used to scare consumers needless into putting more money into the processors pockets in exchange for absolutely nothing extra. I call it consumer terrorism! If you have any question regarding this subject I would be happy to address them.

Janet Ann Collins said...

Thank you for explaining, Rich.