korrents

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Dairy cows make their misery expensive (but their calves can’t)

Elizabeth Van Nostrand · 1 May 2026 · acesounderglass.com ↗

3 korrents from this piece

Elizabeth Van Nostrand did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. Our reading

    Farm animal welfare tends to improve when an animal's stress directly and measurably reduces farmers' economic productivity.

    Their wordsAn advantage cows have that egg chickens lack is that stress immediately and measurably decreases their economic productivity.

  2. Our reading

    If oversight fails to prevent abuse of vulnerable people in institutions like nursing homes, similar oversight is unlikely to prevent mistreatment of farm animals.

    Their wordsif we can't solve the sadist problem in nursing homes I don't see how we can assume it's solved in cows.

  3. Our reading

    Removing routine antibiotic use forces farms to improve animal conditions, since poor conditions become too costly without a quick pharmaceutical fix.

    Their wordsI have a pet theory that removing the option for antibiotics forces farms to treat animals better, because bad conditions engender disease and without the quick fix of antibiotics that can get very expensive.