1 Dairy is a slaughter industry

The dairy industry encourages us to believe that cows naturally produce milk for human consumption. In reality, cows lactate to feed their own babies. These babies are usually torn from their mothers within a day of birth so that humans can drink the milk meant for them. Cows carry their calves for 9 months and form strong bonds with them. The forced separation causes them intense distress. The babies are either slaughtered – around half a million each year in Australia – or forced into the same cruel cycle of constant pregnancies and loss of their babies.

2 Babies should not be sledgehammered to death

In Australia the recommended way to kill ‘weak’ newborn calves is with blunt force trauma to the head, that is, sledgehammering them to death. Every year thousands of calves are killed in this manner with blunt instruments such as hammers. Horrifyingly, you can find a PDF of instructions on how to do this on the Dairy Australia website.

3 Mother’s milk is for mother’s babies

This is natural. Fully grown humans drinking milk from the teat of fully grown cows is not.

4 Yes, milk is for babies

Even the Governator agrees!

5Delicious alternatives are everywhere

Milk can be made from almonds, soy beans, cashews, coconut, rice, bananas and many other non-animal products. Some people call it plant milk. We call it milk for grown ups.

6Dairy isn’t normal

You wouldn’t drink the breast milk of a dog or a rat or a pig. Anyone who did this would be rightly considered a pervert. So why is it considered normal to drink milk that comes from the nipple of a cow? Cow milk has been normalized because we have been culturally conditioned to see something that is disturbing and unnatural as healthy and safe.

7 Dairy is sexual exploitation and abuse

Humans should not be putting their fists into the anuses of other species and inserting rods into their vaginas. No being should be restrained and forcibly impregnated. These are instructions from the Dairy Australia website detailing how to insert an arm into a cow’s anus and a semen gun into her vagina.

8 Cows are not milk machines

This is wrong. Animals exist for their own reasons, they are not the property of humans to do with as we please.

9 Not your mum, not your milk

Bovine breast milk is made by a mother cow to feed her baby calf. It isn’t made for humans, and she doesn’t want you to drink it. We have forcefully taken her body and body secretions for our own pleasure, but her milk never belonged to us. It was for her baby.

10 You don’t need animal products to be healthy

This is a healthy and happy vegan toddler learning the difference between friends and food. Conservative dietary bodies around the world make it clear that veganism is a healthy option for all. The Australian Dietary Guidelines state that “appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthy and nutritionally adequate.” The US Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics similarly states that “[vegan diets] are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.”

11 Plant based power

Vegan athletes are proving time and again that not only can you be optimally healthy without animal products, you can dominate the highest levels of sport. Most recently, long term vegan Nate Diaz broke UFC champion Conor Mcgregor’s 15 fight winning streak with a stunning choke submission. Other prominent vegan athletes include Germany’s strongest man Patrik Baboumian who has continued to break world records since going vegan 5 years ago, and ultramarathon runner Scott Jurek.

12 Milk literally contains poo

In January some Coles homebrand milk was pulled from the shelves for containing too much poo. Yes not just ‘some poo’, but too much… meaning that it’s legally ok for milk to regularly contain a certain level of shit. That’s not all you have to worry about. Because of the continuous pregnancies and excessive milking, many dairy cows suffer from mastitis. As well as being painful for the cows this means there is blood and pus in their milk. In the US the FDA allows 750 million pus cells in every litre of milk. In Europe, regulators allow 400 million pus cells per litre. In Australia there is no limit on how much pus is allowable.

13 Short lives full of violence

Cows naturally live up to 20 years, yet dairy cows are typically killed in their seventh year. Dairy cows have their first baby at 2, and are repeatedly impregnated for the rest of their life. Dairy cows are ALWAYS either pregnant, giving birth or being milked. Their bobby calves are either killed on farm or sent to slaughter houses where they become veal, pet food, leather and suede. When the mother cow’s milk production declines and she is no longer profitable, she is sent to slaughter. Many argue that the dairy industry is crueler than the meat industry due to the psychological, sexual and physical abuse that occurs prior to slaughter.

14 Dairy damages your health

Got prostate cancer? Dairy puts you at increased risk for heart disease and certain cancers, most significantly prostate and breast cancer. Just a half a serve of high fat dairy products a day can increase the risk of breast cancer significantly. There is a reason why so many adults are lactose-intolerant – our bodies are not meant to digest milk past infancy, especially the milk of another species. More and more studies are also showing that not only is there no link between consuming dairy and stronger bones, but that countries with the highest dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis.

15 Dairy destroys the environment

You may think that being vegetarian, four minute showers and recycling mean you’re a real greenie. You’re well on the way. But all your good actions aren’t going to mean much if you’re still drinking milk and eating cheese: A 4 minute shower uses 40 litres of water. One slice of cheese uses 250 litres (waterfootprint.org). And 1 kg of cheese costs us 5000 litres of water (unwater.org). If you’re consuming dairy, you may as well keep your shower running all day, ditch your bike, put everything into landfill and drive your car. Such is the impact of dairy on the environment in terms of emissions and water use. According to Dairy Australia, cows drink 150-250 litres of water a day. The Industry also uses fresh water for manure rinsing, vat cleaning, yard cleaning, milk cooling, machine cleaning and numerous other activities. The best thing you can do for the environment is not to ride a bike or take shorter showers, but to give up dairy and other animal products.

16 There is no such thing as humane slaughter

Humane means having or showing compassion or benevolence. The harm inflicted on cows when they are slaughtered is so severe that it kills them. Think about that. A bolt is shot through their skull and into their brain, then their throat is cut. You can’t do anything violent humanely.

17 This baby needs his mother

This baby needs his mother, not a bolt through the brain.