We have created a system of "always low prices" which doesn't play well with the randomness of calves. Milking a cow is a living process, adapted to the modern farm. The cow doesn't let milk down until stimulated. If you start out teaching the cow to let her milk down for a calf, then she won't be easily trained to let milk down for the machine. In the old world of a few cows standing in place in a barn with calves in pens nearby, this wasn't much of a problem. In the modern world, where 3000 cows are being fed through chutes to get milked by automatic machines that must have all 4 cups in place (or be plugged to keep out dirt and bacteria), how is someone going to handle 3000 (or more, considering twins) calves every 8 hours, matching them to their mothers in proper order, and allowing them to eat as slowly as they choose?
The modern dairy extraction facility is not a 'farm', but a factory. The cows are simply employees. How would a factory be able to compete with Chinese factories if every employee was carrying a child around with them and pregnant?

If you want Change, keep it in your pocket, buy less, buy local, get to know your local farmer or grow food yourself. You can't buy the things that need to be changed. You can only live differently in the manner which you think life should be lived.

Check out cornucopia.org - they rate organic dairies based on how they treat their animals (among other things). Basically, Organic Valley is pretty good, and if you can find Seven Stars brand yogurt, they're good too.
Cowsunite.org is a great site/group, but I wish they said something about the issue of tearing cows' calves away from them when they are very young. They don't address that issue in their "Cows Manifesto."
Surely it's possible to produce milk from cows by continuing to milk them after their calves have been weaned, instead of continually inseminating them and then ripping their calves away from them......
No one talks about that, though..........
Good luck in your search.

Hi Layla,

A good place to start looking for information on this and other food issues is the Organic Consumer Association at http://www.organicconsumers.org. Also, check out http://www.cowsunite.org - a fun website with some good information.

Teo Grossman
Bioneers