Breaking Investigation: Animal Equality uncovers abuse at dairy farms in Spain
Animal Equality investigators have uncovered abuse on 11 dairy farms in northern Spain.
From November 2023 to February 2024, investigators documented routine cruelty behind Spain’s dairy industry. Cows were chained by their noses, shocked with electric prods, and separated from their newborn calves just moments after birth.
Calves were force-fed through tubes and restrained by metal nose rings. They cried out for their mothers after being ripped from each other.
➡️ Explore the full investigation and take action: https://animalequality.in/blog/shocks-chains-and-early-slaughter-inside-the-dairy-industry/
You have the power to help end the cycle of suffering.
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Transcript (English — en-x-autogen)
Animal equality's team in Spain has gone
undercover to expose dairy.
The evidence reveals the harsh realities
of cows on 11 dairy farms across the country.
This is what the industry doesn't want you to see.
In Spain, 800,000 cows are exploited for dairy.
The industry is primarily concentrated in the northern
Astoria and Cantabria
cows are treated as milk producing machines.
The farms find new ways
to extract every last drop from the animals.
In every facility investigated,
cows are artificially inseminated.
Most of the time, farmers use specific semen
to produce female calves.
They are destined for the same role as their mothers.
Calves are torn away from their mothers
immediately after birth.
Farms do this to preserve milk for human consumption,
distressed by the forced separation.
Mothers cry out for their babies.
Some can be heard bellowing for their calves for days.
This is the brutal cycle. Cows endure in the dairy industry.
Forced impregnation separation at birth,
and relentless milking.
After being separated, calves are confined
to individual pens.
They are fed milk substitutes instead
of the milk intended for them.
Male calves are considered useless
to the industry and are slaughtered.
Female calves are raised
to replace cows whose milk production declines.
The milking frequency varies between farms.
Some cows are milked as often as three times a day.
Nearly 30%
of cows in Spain suffer from painful infections caused
by excessive milking, poor hygiene, or utter injuries.
After giving birth
and enduring over two months of intensive milking,
they are impregnated again at one of the farms.
Cows were restricted from moving by electrified devices.
The metal bar is positioned over their backs delivering
electric shocks when touched.
Another common method
of control is chaining cows tightly by the neck.
They are unable to do anything but eat.
If a cow tries to sit down,
the workers will force her back on her feet
due to unsanitary conditions
and the inability to move cows suffer from infections,
hoof inflammation, fractures, and joint problems.
These issues lead to their slaughter.
Lameness is one of the most common afflictions in cows used
for dairy in Spain.
Up to 55% of cows are affected.
We also documented the use of electric prods to control cows
during hoof trimming an indication of the stressful
and forceful handling they endure.
Slaughter is the inevitable fate
for animals in the dairy industry.
Their lives are defined by
how many times they can give birth.
Typically, three to four times in the wild,
cows could live up to 25
years In the industry.
She will be sent to slaughter
between the ages of four and six.
The dairy industry doesn't want you to know this reality.
Millions of people around the world are already choosing
plant-based milk alternatives
after learning about the cruelty and endured by cows.
You can be part of this change too.
You have the power to end this abuse.