Help Raise Standards on Organic Dairy Products
When you buy organic products, there is this expectancy attached—this feeling that the product is supposed to be safe, effective, and good for you. The fact that it costs more and is harder to find (for many people, anyway) makes the idea even further ingrained into our psyches. After all, when you pay more, you get more, right?
But the number of exposes run on the dairy industry, from California to New York, simply keep increasing and increasing, and we’re slowly realizing that truly organic milk simply isn’t being made on many of the farms claiming to produce it. In fact, nearly half of the nation’s milk is made on big factory farms. And of these, the biggest organic producers corral their bovine beauties in little dirt pens where they don’t get to eat grass and can barely turn around. Many don’t even come into contact with grass at all, which is unnatural for a cow.
This means that not only is the milk we’re drinking not very humane—something that many organic buyers are concerned about—it’s also not as healthy. Grass is the natural food of cows; think of what else they’re eating to compensate.
I understand that dairy cows have to continually produce calves and be milked to keep producing milk; it’s one of the reasons I don’t drink much milk. (Though I drink mostly almond milk, the rest of my household does consume cow’s milk.) Moms will tell you that continually producing babies is not fun (okay, some parts might be fun); it’s hard work.
And what do these cows get for their hard work? A life of no grass, no room, and a pretty bleak outlook. That’s not much fun for creatures considered to be pretty intelligent.
The USDA has also realized this. In order change the industry, they’re proposing new regulations to increase the quality of cow grazing—both for the cows’ sake as well as the health of the consumers who buy it. (Way to go, USDA! I know I moan about you quite a bit, but this is a good thing to do.) All the new regulations need is the signature of President Obama.
To write President Obama about better standards for organic dairy production, click here. Be sure to tell him how important it is to you that organic dairy meet high, healthy standards, and that you care about the treatment of dairy cows. You can also give him a ring at 202-456-1111.
