How is milk produced? By slaughtering cows, making them live five years instead of 25. And stuffing them with soy to make them bloated (video and photos)

EXPLOITATION OF DAIRY COWS

How is it produced? milk? If you like fairy tales, be enchanted by the commercials from major producers that talk about free-range pastures, animals happy to be milked, and products that arrive on our tables as if they were elixirs of long life. If, however, you're curious and cultivate a sense of reality, don't miss the documentary film. The Milk System, shot by the director from Bolzano, Andreas Pichler.

What is breathtaking when watching this documentary is the fact that we are not faced with individual episodes of excessive exploitation of animals or lack of care for the basic natural elements for milk production. No, here we are in the presence of a systemic mechanism, from which no producer, even the smallest, can emerge, without risking being left without customers.

ALSO READ: Raw milk on tap costs less and comes from better-treated and naturally treated cows. Find it in every region with a map.

DAIRY CATTLE FARMING IN ITALY

The first disconcerting thing is the unrestrained exploitation of cowsSo much so that, despite an average lifespan of 25 years, these animals rarely make it past their fifth year.

Secondly, there is an aspect that further highlights the exploitation of cows: I am perpetually pregnantThe reason is obvious: it is during pregnancy that cows swell with milk and are ready to have it squeezed from their turgid teats. So the cows squeeze themselves to the limit, and the useless calves are eliminated. To the slaughterhouse.

Again: intensive farming to meet the growing market demand for milk, exclude open-air pastures, among the natural grass. Everything is drugged. Even with the use of soy, which, in large quantities, allows the animals to fatten up and then be squeezed like lemons.

TO KNOW MORE: Benefits of milk, its composition, different types and all the important properties for health

POLLUTION FROM INTENSIVE FARMING

Finally, pollution. Impressive. Every liter of milk produced brings with it three liters of sewage. Where does it end up? Generally they filter into the soil and pollute it, sometimes even irreparably. But this is of little interest to producers; for them, the important thing is to milk, milk, and milk. In the background, there's a €100 billion pie to be divided, in Europe alone (that's the annual turnover from milk production), equal to approximately 2 million tons of product per year. And in the background are the new customers, those who have boosted the market and given a boost to new farming methods: the ChineseThey are the most promising consumers today, considering the population size and growing availability; they are the ones who, after 8 years, have discovered the benefits of milk. It's a shame they don't know exactly where it comes from and how the milk they drink is produced.

MILK-BASED RECIPES:

• Bread and milk cake, an ancient and soft recipe for a very healthy breakfast.
• Milk and lemon mousse, a refreshing dessert recipe to serve with cinnamon and almond biscuits.
• The recipe for making milk fetta at home, one of children's most loved snacks.
• Milk Rolls: The Recipe for a Healthy and Nutritious Breakfast or Snack
• Hot Milk Cake: The recipe for a delicious dessert, perfect for breakfast.