From the Glossary: Dairy and the "Rape Rack"

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.