Mammals produce milk for their offspring. Dairy farmers have to keep their dairy cows pregnant and having babies constantly so they continue producing milk. This involves bulls inseminating the cows or more commonly non-consensual artificial insemination. Either could be considered rape. I guess an ethical farmer could only choose to opportunistically collect extra milk at times when their cows have given birth and after the calf has drank their fill, but that's not how it happens at large dairy farms.

[–] tubaruco@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

i always thought domesticated cows were bred to produce milk all the time. i will search a little to know more about that

edit: i have searched and dairy farming indeed works the way the person i replied to said it worked. to add, that can be done so much to a single cow it can cause diseases and infections on the cow

edit2: i forgot to say that those things dont count as rape, since rape means forcing a person to do sexual things without their consent, so by letting a bull do the work i feel its completely fine. artificial insemination is a different story, and i just seriously dont want to think about it

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This involves bulls inseminating the cows or more commonly non-consensual artificial insemination

Animals aren't capable of consenting to anything. They lack both the communication capabilities and the mental facilities to make the kind of decisions that are involved in any kind of consent. This is similar to how the severely mentally disabled are unable to consent and must instead have a caretaker give medical consent.

I'll concede that animal farming practices are generally difficult to justify and align with our modern morals, but farm animals can and often are treated with a level of respect to quality of life that is not far from some pets, just with the added expectation that they also provide for us.

[–] survivalmachine@beehaw.org 1 points 9 months ago

Yes, I was leaving that exercise for the reader and you hit it out of the park. Being unable to consent, any sexual act performed on them by an able-minded adult human is rape.

[–] AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Oh yeah because the bulls in the in the wild ask the cows for permission -_-

[–] survivalmachine@beehaw.org 4 points 9 months ago

Letting nature do its thing is a whole lot different than humans doing a similar act. We generally don't condone cruelty to animals in lab environments or everyday life, even though predators maul and maim other species all the time.

[–] ExLisper@linux.community 3 points 9 months ago

And the inseminated cows goes "o fuck, I'm late again! I can't go thought this again. my career will go to shit".