From the Glossary: Dairy and the "Rape Rack"

categories: Dairy and Eggs, Farm Animals

Published December 01, 2008 @ 11:28AM PT

Because there are practices and ideas that everyone in this animal-exploiting world should know about and understand, I am periodically going to feature terms that are defined in this blog's (non-comprehensive) glossary.

First up is a term that gives rise to horrible mental images, and unfortunately, the "tool" is exactly what it sounds like:

rape rack. The brutal, but accurate, industry term referring to the contraptions in which cows and pigs are restrained while they are forcibly inseminated.

Cows do not automatically produce milk year-round. They produce milk for the same reason and in the same situation as humans--after giving birth, to feed their beloved young. The only way to keep a cow lactating is to repeatedly impregnate her. The cow gives birth; the calf is ripped away to become veal or a future dairy cow, causing both mother and child great despair; the milk intended for the calf is taken for humans; and the cow is impregnated again. It's a horrible cycle, with physical pain and emotional distress involved at every stage.

And what was particularly disturbing and infuriating for me this morning was the number of images I found of women standing behind cows, with their arms shoved up inside the animal (in artificial insemination, the inseminator forces his or her arm up the rectum of the cow, to push on the cervix, while inseminating the cow with the other hand), smiling cheerfully at the camera, as if this was a practice they were happy to be a part of, a practice that was humorous and fun. And then there was the photo of a man doing the job, with the following cheeky caption: "I'll give her some wine and send her some flowers tomorrow." Incredible.

Cow's milk taken for humans doesn't do a body good--not yours, not the cow's, and not the calf's.

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Comments (3)

I've said it on my own blog, but the physical process of becoming a mother, especially going through labor & delivery, is the closest I've ever been to "animal". You don't think like a human while it's happening, you don't think at all. But when that baby is handed to you, your eyes open wide and you think of nothing else but them. I don't doubt that mother cows go through the same process.

Also, I'd like to remind anyone who has nursed in the past or inform those who haven't, that making milk can hurt. Female bodies were not meant to make milk indefinitely, there's a reason mammal babies are weaned by a certain age...

Some call me a bleeding heart because I imagine the pain suffered by the cows as their calves are taken away too early, the fear of the babies as they are torn from their moms to suffer horrific lives in veal crates or as dairy cows. But it's hard not to feel something... This is why I am a vegan. I want no part of this dairy "industry" or anything that it stands for.

Posted by Lisa Smolen on 12/01/2008 @ 01:13PM PT
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I whole heartedly agree that keeping cows pregnant is outright animal abuse. In India although cows are considered "sacred" they do not eat them and they refuse to neuter animals because it will interfere with their 'karma" but they have no problem keeping them constantly pregnant against their will while they benefit from their production of milk. Somehow humans got the idea that they own this planet and everything in it. I am hoping that our new president will open doors towards creating possibilities for a new world where animals are as sacred as humans.

Posted by amber lopez on 12/01/2008 @ 08:16PM PT
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The dairy industry has got to be one of the most evil (and secretive) of all animal enterprises...

So many (like I) think they are being *ethical* vegetarians because most cannot imagine the deeds done to dairy cows and calves to make *milk, butter, cheese" products. Their practices are monsterously cruel.

Thanks for reminding us of one the many reasons to be vegan.

Posted by Bea Elliott on 12/03/2008 @ 05:02AM PT
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Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull.