When you think about the worst ways humans exploit animals, each other, and our planet, you should think of your cheese pizza. The dairy industry involves exploitation from start to finish: Female cows are sexually assaulted, babies are torn away from their mothers, our water and land are wasted, and an unhealthy product is made. It’s time to call out dairy for what it is: supremacy.

In the dairy industry, workers forcibly inseminate female cows and kidnap their babies. A cow needs to have a baby before she can produce milk—which is hers, not yours. After raping the animals with arms and tools, workers harass the mothers for their milk and fit them into machines that ruthlessly tug at their sensitive udders. Up to 50% of the cows exploited for their milk suffer from painful mastitis (swollen, infected mammary glands).

Male and “surplus” female calves are of no use to the dairy industry, so they’re either raised for veal or sent straight to slaughter. Eventually, once the mother is so worn down that she can no longer be used for milk, they’ll slaughter her, too. Dairy-based cheese, yogurt, and ice cream are produced by people who see the female reproductive system as a commodity. When workers can no longer exploit a cow’s body for profit, they destroy her.

© Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals

In the U.S. alone, cows used for dairy produce over 1 billion pounds of waste every single day. Runoff from factory farms and grazing animals pollutes rivers and lakes and results in ocean dead zones. More than 90% of the Amazon has been cleared over the last 50 years to make room for farmed animals, which is just one reason why animal agriculture is a top contributing factor to climate change.

Quite often, factory farms dodge anti-pollution regulations by spraying liquid manure into the air, disproportionality affecting people in Black and low-income communities who are constantly exposed to an unbearable stench and forced to inhale toxic manure spray. Environmental racism is real, and animal agriculture is a huge culprit.

According to the California State Senate, “Studies have shown that [animal waste] lagoons emit toxic airborne chemicals that can cause inflammatory, immune, irritation and neurochemical problems in humans.”

Humans aren’t supposed to drink cow’s milk—obviously! About 70% of African Americans are lactose intolerant, and in general, people of color are less likely to be able to digest lactose. Yet this “product” is normalized and forced on low-income students in schools, and we’re charged more for vegan options at places like Starbucks.

It’s hers to feed her babies—not ours to take and pour in our coffee, lick from a cone, or sprinkle on tacos.   

• Take action in your personal life. Haven’t ditched dairy yet? We can help you end this toxic relationship. Order our “Breakup Box” and get the support you need to move on with delicious vegan ice cream, cheese, yogurt, milk, and more.
• Take action in your community. Order our “Grocery Store Takeover” kit and spread the message to people in your community that it’s time to cancel milk and switch to dairy-free options.
• Fight the system that perpetuates dairy and makes vegan options less accessible. Order our materials and head to Starbucks to fight the vegan milk surcharge.

There’s no such thing as a “dairy cow”—only mothers whose milk we steal. The dairy industry has such a tight grip on society that many people don’t even realize how completely unnatural, unnecessary, and unhealthy it is to drink breastmilk (of another species) once we’re grown.