Next stop: slaughterhouse.
Dairy farmers slaughtered 30 percent more cows in January than in September and are sending the cows’ remains to the meat market to cut losses, the Associated Press reports.
The cost of producing milk is now double the price to consumers and the industry is having trouble keeping up. “This could destroy our dairy infrastructure,” Mike Marsh, CEO of the United Western Dairymen trade association, told the AP.
For a moment, imagine if the burden of Wall Street executives (and, hey, even that of dairy farmers) were alleviated using the same strategy farmers are using to lighten the self-imposed burden of their dairy cows. Those who proved to be worth much less than their paychecks could be sent off to slaughter and made into meat patties, or better, veal–us desk-tethered humans don’t get much exercise–and sold to feed all the people who are furiously digging through their purses for a few more cents to afford a can of chicken noodle soup at Gristedes.
And dairy cows aren’t the only bovines the farming industry is killing prematurely (by their standards). Bull calves shipped off to feedlots to reach a weight deemed appropriate for slaughter are also a liability to the cattle livestock industry; the costs of rearing the young cows are gaining on the returns. Farm Sanctuary is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of the party who dumped 30 bull calves on roads in San Joaquin County, Calif. Nearly 50 calves have been dumped on roads in that county since January.
Meanwhile, in Dabhel, India, where killing cows is illegal, five people were arrested on Tuesday, February 10 for cow slaughter.
