What is a Dairy Downer?

For those new to animal agriculture… and the dairy industry…

A ‘downer’ in the dairy industry is a cow that has served ‘her time’, one that cannot get up anymore, one that has probably given birth 4 or 5 times (after being artificially inseminated) without the privilege of actually nursing and raising her own calves. Instead her body has been utulised in a mechanical way, through the admission of hormones, antibiotics and other additives, to produce ±120 L of milk a day. By the way – her own calf would only need ±40 L of milk a day, so by ‘machining’ her, her body is now so exhausted by the 5 years of producing milk for humans to drink or make cheese, that she simply cannot go on anymore – and she is down!

Know that feeling? of being utterly abused? I don’t think so…

Also look at THIS VIDEO if you want to understand more about the Dairy Industry.