Land 'O Lakes dirty secrets

A veterinarian who examined this weak, starving, dehydrated calf (pictured) on the farm of a Land O'Lakes milk supplier found that his skin was scalded from the chronic coating of urine and feces.

As if you didn't need ANOTHER reason to boycott the conventional dairy industry..You probably recognize the name Land O'Lakes. You've seen the company's butter and milk products lined up on grocery-store shelves, and you may even purchase its products for your family. Now, please consider the immense suffering of these cows―who are given little more than a numbered tag punched through their ears―documented during a new undercover investigation of a Land O'Lakes supplier.

On the supplier's Pennsylvania farm, the investigation documented the suffering of cow #506, who gave birth after a nine-month pregnancy and then collapsed on April 11. A day later, she was found struggling outside without food, water, or shelter from freezing temperatures―the flailing of her head had carved a small trench in the ground under her face. She was eventually shot and killed.

Cow #826 would not stand up when urged, prompting the farm's co-owner to electro-shock her to her feet. Her condition continued to decline over the course of 21 days, until she was finally shot and killed. Like many other cows on this farm, she was not given veterinary care or put out of her misery in a timely manner. Instead, she was left to suffer for weeks.

While being milked by a machine, cow #36's gangrenous, infected teat ruptured, and workers were told to "amputate" it by binding it with a tight elastic band. Her condition deteriorated over the course of 11 days, until she finally died.

These are the stories of just a few of the cows whose painful experiences are documented on the farm of this Land O'Lakes supplier. Others suffered when their newborn calves were torn away from them shortly after birth or when their tails were tightly wrapped with elastic bands in order to "dock" them, and they were all forced to live in perpetually wet pens and sheds full of deep excrement, which leads to the spread of disease. Watch our investigation video to learn more.

This blatant disregard for animal welfare is routine in the dairy industry. Cows are kept constantly pregnant in order to make them continue to produce milk, and they are hooked up at least twice a day to machines that extract the milk intended for their own calves. When their exhausted bodies are "spent" and can no longer provide enough milk, they are sent to slaughter, usually for hamburger meat.

Remember that the vast majority of conventionally raised cattle are diseased and suffering from chronic inflammation for most of their lives with a large part of that reason being their forced diet of cannibalism, blood and GM Corn mixed feed, to make them fat (yes, the practice of feeding cattle other dead cattle and animals is STILL going on and no, regulations are generally not enforced or cases even investigated) and filthy living conditions. This systemic condition DOES end up in the final product, so if you're NOT buying organic, grassfed only beef
you are feasting on the stressed, over-hormonal, anti-biotic filled, chronically inflamed diseased flesh of these innocent creatures. This in-turn becomes a part of your body map.

Alternatives exist in choices you can make. As said, ONLY purchase organic, grassfed beef preferably from a small family farm and try Organic Almond Milk for example. Not only will you be getting BETTER nutrition from this nut milk, you also will not be contributing to the saddening, macabre practices on conventional dairy and beef farms.