Pregnancy at Slaughter: What Happens to the Calves? Part 1

categories: Dairy and Eggs, Farm Animals, Slaughter

Published May 21, 2009 @ 08:14AM PT

What happens when a cow is pregnant at the time of slaughter? I almost wish I didn't know. From the calves experiencing their mother's death from inside her, while they too suffer or die their own terrible death, to live calves being cut from their dead mother's womb, so that their blood can be drained for science while they're still alive--it's all horrific, and none of it is ever talked about, even though it's a part of the dairy and beef industries and a part of how people get their "finest" leather. There's enough to cover here that two posts are required. This is the first.

By accident a few months ago, I ended up watching a video of a pregnant cow already stunned and hung upside down--and the video showed an apparently almost-full-term calf struggling inside and against the mother's body, kicking in desperation, dying a horrible death inside the womb. Later came the image of that young calf's presumably dead body tossed into a bin (though it seems still live calves are often tossed as well).

This is one particular horror I'd previously failed to consider. Dairy cows especially (more than beef cows, that is, given that dairy cows are kept perpetually pregnant) may go to slaughter while pregnant if they become unprofitable before giving birth or if the producers decide to kill a bunch of cows even more prematurely than usual to save money when demand is down. And so while workers stun them, hang them upside down, cut open their throats to let the blood from their body drain out, cut off their legs, and pull off their skin, all that time, there is a calf inside them, fighting and dying a horrifying death. How soon in the process the calf inside dies likely varies according to how developed he or she was and how fast the slaughter process moves. In an "efficient" slaughterhouse, the calf could still be dying--dying but still living, still suffering terribly--at the time of her mother's dismemberment and disembowelment.

A UK survey in the 1990s at one slaughterhouse found that, "of the slaughtered cows, 23.5 per cent were pregnant and 26.9 per cent of these were in the third trimester." 23 percent were pregnant. That's a lot. One percent--or even 1 calf--would be too many.

But it gets worse. In addition to the trauma of still being alive inside their mothers during the latter's death, fetal calves may also be cut from their mother's womb while still alive--so that their blood can be drained for use in science, without anesthesia. See the next post for more.

---
Photo of calves taken from slaughtered pregnant cows courtesy of Viva!UK

Share this Post

Comments (8)

Horrifying. Everyone should know this.

Posted by Yvonne Smith on 05/21/2009 @ 09:59AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 2 people like this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Yvonne
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
I've discovered, more than anything, people aren't willing to even think about this part of the process. I get the most resistance at the mere mention of pregnant dairy cows at slaughter. In that same category, there's a lot of people that just don't want to think about the "by-product" calves of the dairy industry. People want to imagine idyllic scenes of cows & calves...

Posted by Lisa Smolen on 05/21/2009 @ 07:43PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 2 people like this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Lisa
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
I was thinking of going vegaterian for my own health, but now see a better reason to go for the animals health.. this is sickening and twisted..

Posted by Joe Wilson on 05/21/2009 @ 09:03PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 3 people like this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Joe
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Thanks Stephanie... this did need to be told, as ugly as it is.

Interesting though... There's this story about a pregnant ewe who gave birth at the slaughterhouse... Both she and her lamb are now safe with a woman who managed to rescue them both from "death row"

I wish all had such a lucky story.
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2009/05/21/lamb-and-mother-saved-from-the-slaughterhouse-61634-23681137/

Posted by Bea Elliott on 05/21/2009 @ 10:30PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 2 people like this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Bea
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Yes, everyone should know about it so they/we can all realise what we are consuming. I got the link for part 3 from a friend of mine at care2.com and now have posted the link for part 1 on twitter, facebook, and myspace. I've been a vegetarian since April (after a decade of attempts) and am transitioning to veganism.

Posted by Maggie Amaya on 08/24/2009 @ 01:56AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- 1 person likes this comment. Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Maggie
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Good on you Maggie & congratulations for making the connections!

And it goes without saying that any of us here would jump at the chance to help in any way you needed... Just whistle! ;)

Posted by Bea Elliott on 08/24/2009 @ 11:28AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Bea
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
Hello my name is Holly!!!!

This picture up above is what happened to my calf (BOBBY) I was sooooo sad at the time that I couldnt talk to my dad for about a week. I hope it will notr happen to me again or other young kids. =)

Posted by Holly Barriball on 08/26/2009 @ 05:38PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Holly
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
1. The main problem remains the slaughter itself. If cows were not slaughtered for meat, this would not happen. Therefore, those horrible pictures are another good reason to stop eating meat and buying leather products.

2. The slaughter itself is so horrible and so violent so the calf issue seems to me less important. There are good reasons to believe that the calf suffers less than a mature cow, and certaintly not more. Killing two cows is in now way better than killing a pregnant cow and its calf.

3. Anyhow, all of this can be avoided by setting a rule that no cow will be slaughtered pregnant or in the third trimester.

Although there are good reasons to stop having diary products, I don't this THIS is one of them. THIS is another good reason to stop eating meat.

Posted by L S on 11/10/2009 @ 03:12AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by L
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

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.