🟢 Milk is often seen as a symbol of health and purity in Indian households. But how often do we question where it comes from—or at what cost? This post reveals the truth behind dairy in India. Not with anger, but with empathy. Let’s begin.
What Everyone Needs to Know About Dairy (Milk and Milk Products)
🐮 When Does Any Animal Mother Produce Milk?
Only after giving birth to a baby.
Whether it is the tiniest of tiny squirrels or mice or the mightiest of mighty elephants or any animal in between like a cat, dog, rabbit, monkey, goat, horse, donkey, human being, cow, buffalo, gorilla, zebra, giraffe, rhinocerous, hippopotamus, etc. a female produces milk ONLY and ONLY when she’s had a baby. Milk is nature’s way of nourishing the newborn—no more, no less.
👶 For WHOM has God, Nature or Shrushti (the Power of the Universe) put that milk in her body?
ONLY for her baby born at that time.
No mother, of any species, ever breastfeeds the children she has had before, and no cow, buffalo, or human mother produces milk for another species. Milk is baby food in liquid form, created to support the rapid growth of an infant who doesn’t have any teeth.
“Milk is not a drink for humans; it’s a calf’s meal.”
🛑 How Do We Take That Milk?
We tie the mother on one side, separate her from her baby who we tie on the other side, and steal with our hands what isn’t ours. We leave her baby hungry, confused, and heartbroken. We make the mother suffer both physically and emotionally.
💔 The Mother’s Distress
“I see my baby. I have milk for them. But I can’t reach them.”
Cows try to reach out. They call. They cry. But we restrain them by tying them. We ignore their maternal instincts and dismiss their emotions… all for our taste buds.
Moreover, they are tied with short ropes in one place all their life. Can you imagine being shackled from the time you are born till you die?
🐄 The Calf’s Trauma
Imagine being a baby calf:
- You are very hungry.
- You see your mother.
- But the humans around you don’t allow you to drink her milk and you suffer from hunger pangs all day long.
How would you have felt if this had been done to you as a human baby?
In most dairy farms, farmers take the calves to their mothers just twice a day and allow them to drink an amount of milk that will just about keep them alive. Often, farmers deny male calves milk altogether. After all, he isn’t going to produce milk when he grows up, is he? So these male calves die slowly and painfully of starvation. Sometimes the farmer sells them to middle-men for their tender meat or soft ‘calf’ leather before they die.
🤯 Pain of Holding Milk
Farmers milk cows and buffaloes just twice a day. That means he makes these mothers hold in their milk for 12 hours though nature has designed them to feed their babies every 30 minutes just like the mothers of other species. The physical pain and swelling are intense. Would we allow this to be done to human mothers?
🪤 The “Bhoot” or ”Khal Bacha” Trick
Mother cows and buffaloes refuse to release milk if they don’t see their babies. So, after the male calf dies, farmers skin the carcass and stuff the empty skin (khaal) with straw to fool the mother into letting down milk. Farmers discard the body of these babies in the fields nearby where they are eaten up by dogs or rot and decompose over a few days.
This is not just deceptive—it’s deeply cruel.
❌ No, They Don’t “Give” Us Milk
No cow or buffalo gifts us her milk. We take it forcefully.
If the calf had full access throughout the day, there would be no milk left for us at the end of the day. That’s why cows are bred for unnatural overproduction, leading to mastitis, infections, and early death. Only a cruel and greedy mind can come up with such a procedure.
🧬 Human vs. Calf Growth Rate
| Species | Birth Weight | 1-Year Weight | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Human Baby | 3 kg | 8–10 kg | ~7 kg |
| Calf | 15 kg | 130–140 kg | ~120 kg |
As you can see in the chart a human baby is around 3 kgs when born and reaches a weight of around 8 to 10 kgs in a year whereas a calf is over 15 kgs in weight at birth and weighs around 130 to 140 kgs in a year. The rates of growth are so different. Clearly, cow’s milk is not meant for human babies. It’s too rich, too growth-inducing and not species-appropriate.
🚫 Adult Milk Drinkers?
No other adult animal apart from the human being drinks milk.
Moreover, no other animal drinks the milk from the mother of another species. Only humans do that. And, we mostly force children to drink it till they get addicted to it.
😟 The Forced Pregnancy Cycle
To keep her producing milk, the farmer forcibly impregnates the cow/buffalo every year often via cruel, invasive procedures.
This cycle of pregnancy and loss continues until she is “unprofitable” for the farmer.
Then he sells her and she ends up in the slaughterhouse, and the farmer knows this.
🐂 The Final Journey To Death
- We stuff them in overcrowded trucks.
- We transport them illegally across state borders to states where cow slaughter is not banned.
- We skin them, mostly while they are still alive.
The Indian Dairy Industry kills over 1 lakh cows and buffaloes every day, mostly “spent” dairy animals. This number doesn’t include calves.
In India and the Myth of Ahimsa
We call India the land of Ahimsa. But behind our milk, dahi, butter, chhaas, ghee, paneer, pedha, mithai, gulab jamun, rasmalai, cheese, ice cream or any other dairy product, there’s violence, pain, and betrayal.
We have normalized cruelty. Now is the time to choose differently.
🌱 What You Can Do
✅ Switch to Plant-Based Food
You can meet all your nutritional needs without harming a soul. Check out easy to make traditional Indian recipes with nutritional information at Indian Vegan Cookbook
- Calcium – from sesame seeds, ragi (finger millet), amaranth, leafy greens
- Protein – from dals, legumes, tofu, nuts, seeds
- Healthy Fats – from coconut, nuts, seeds
- Vitamins & Iron – from all whole plant foods
📚 Resources to Learn More
- 🥭 Eat Fruits and Heal (YouTube) join daily EFH Zoom sessions
- 🎥 The Ultimate Vegan Guide by Arvind Animal Activist (YouTube)
- 🌿 SHARAN India
- 🍽 Indian Vegan Cookbook
- 🧠 NutritionFacts.org
- 👩⚕️ Goodbye Lupus by Dr. Brooke Goldner
- 🌍 GenV.org/Go-Vegan
- 📱 Challenge22 on Facebook
- 🌱 Veganuary.com
- 🎥 Maa Ka Doodh and The Land of Ahimsa
❤️ Final Thought
If we can live without harming anyone, why wouldn’t we?
Be kind. Be aware. Be Ahimsak. 🌿
📣 Take Action!
💥 Ready to make a change?
Start with one week of dairy-free living. Simply get milk, dahi, butter, ghee, paneer, cheese, etc. out of your diet. It’s easy! Here’s some help to get you started.
👉 Join Challenge 22 – Free Vegan Mentorship or Start Here the Indian Way