[n_plus_1_acc]

Many people don't know that you have to milk a dairy cow twice a day because they produce so much milk. They will experience severe pain of not milked, so in case of an emergency, usually all cows are euthanized. In today's world, farmers need to have more cows than they could ever milk by hand.

[CapstanRoller]

>Many people don't know that you have to milk a dairy cow twice a day because they produce so much milk.

Why? This doesn't seem natural (or ethical)

>In today's world, farmers need to have more cows than they could ever milk by hand.

Why? This doesn't seem sustainable (or ethical)

[n_plus_1_acc]

> >Many people don't know that you have to milk a dairy cow twice a day because they produce so much milk. > > Why? This doesn't seem natural (or ethical) > > >In today's world, farmers need to have more cows than they could ever milk by hand. > > Why? This doesn't seem sustainable (or ethical)

Short answer: capitalism

Longer answer: cows have been bred for more milk throughput, not more milk storage. A good dairy cow can yield up to six and a half gallons every day. The udder is simply not large enough to hold that much milk. Whether this kind of selective breeding can be called natural is up to you.

And milking machines, even the simplest kind that provide just a suction mechanism, are ubiquitous in the developed world and can easily allow the farmer to milk multiple cows in parallel, pipelined. And you need to have some machines to survive on the market. So you get more cows to increase the yield. These machines are usually very reliable, so people begin to rely on them. If you can get them fixed weithin a couple hours you're good.

[funac]

it's animal agriculture - it's as far from natural, sustainable, or ethical as you can get.

[pleasecalllater]

Nope. It's the opposite way. The cow produces so much milk, because it's milked so often. In normal world, cow produces milk for the children, and when they drink less and less milk, the cow produces less and less milk. In the not normal world (aka the farm) cows are inseminated almost every year, the children are taken away (causing shock in children and mothers) then cows are milked all the time. Then impregnated and so on. Till a cow is so exhausted that she cannot give enough milk to be "economically productive" and then she's slaughtered as useless.

[skyyler]

https://unbottled.com/questions/what-happens-when-a-cow-need...

The person you’re responding to actually knows what they’re talking about.

It seems like you’re off an incorrect assumption that there are dairy cows in the wild. (“normal world”)

Dairy cows are domesticated animals. They do not exist outside of the context of farms.

[hombre_fatal]

Well, they’re correct. It’s a predicament the farmer has put the cow in. The top comment’s framing makes it sound like cows just exist in nature and need us to milk them.

[gklitz]

The top comment does no such thing. It specifically mentions dairy cows.

[Log_out_]

Some need hormon injections so they can get rid of the milk.