“Clunkers, Canners and Cripples”: Canada’s Disturbing Dairy Industry

Emaciated cows at OLEX in Ontario.jpg

In “The Skinny on Market Cows,” a shockingly candid article in this month’s Canadian Cattlemen magazine, Reynold Bergen, science director for the Beef Cattle Research Council, revealed that the percentage of cows graded “D3” (formerly “Triple Cs,” which referred to “Clunkers, Canners and Cripples”) at Canadian livestock auctions increased from 13 percent in 19992002 to 36 percent in 20092012 (“Clunkers, Canners and Cripples” refers to severely emaciated or laming cows, often too impaired to stand on their own). At the same time, the percentage of cows graded “D1” or “of adequate weight” fell from 25 percent to less than one percent.

The article attributes the increase in marketing of ailing animals to the growing demand for cheap ground beef among cash-strapped consumers.

Most people have no idea, but ground beef is predominantly sourced from “spent” dairy cowsanimals who spend their lives in a constant cycle of impregnation, birth, and intensive milking until their bodies are so worn out they are no longer of use to dairy farmers and are sold for slaughter.

Bergen states that cows are “loaded, transported, unloaded, marketed, held for a week (or longer) at an auction mart while loads are assembled, then reloaded, transported again, and unloaded at a packer.” Clearly, if producers can turn a profit off the suffering of animals, they will.

You can let producers know that you don’t support their cruel practices by adopting a compassionate, plant-based diet. Go to ChooseVeg.ca to learn more.