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Glam Journal

Do you kill a cow for cheese?

Author

Ava White

Updated on April 02, 2026

Do you kill a cow for cheese?

Young cows, specifically — a few days old, at most. The stomach of an unweaned calf produces enzymes that turn liquid milk into good, hard, flavorful cheeses like Parmesan and Cheddar. This, as they say, kills the cow.

Do they kill cows to make Parmesan cheese?

That’s right—Parmesan (as well as some other cheeses such as Gruyère and Gorgonzola) may contain the stomach lining of young cattle who spent the entirety of their short lives in close confinement before being killed for veal.

Are dairy cow calves killed?

For cows to produce milk, they have to give birth to a calf. Most dairy calves are separated from their mother within 24 hours of birth to reduce the risk of disease transmission to the calf, and most do not stay on the farm for long. And, each year, around 500,000 of these bobby calves are destined for slaughter.

Is eating dairy cruel?

Upsetting as the story is, what happens elsewhere in the dairy industry amounts to systematic cruelty. In reality, the daily practices of most dairy farms are more distressing than those of meat production. A mother cow only produces milk when she gets pregnant.

Can you eat a stillborn calf?

No. Calves aborted, (who aborts calves?) Miscarried, or stillborn are not sold for veal.

What do farmers do with dead calves?

In the ranching world, calf grafting is a practice used to encourage cows to “adopt” and raise young calves who are not their own. But how do ranchers and farmers “graft” calves together? They skin dead babies and tie their body parts onto living calves with twine.

Which is worse dairy or meat?

When it comes to environmental impact, beef is by far the worst offender compared to other proteins. But, that doesn’t mean that cheese—or any dairy product—is in the clear. According to the Oxford study, “tenth-percentile GHG emissions and land use of dairy beef are then 36 and 6 times greater than those of peas.”

Is it true that calves are killed for cheese?

, Cheesemonger. The short answer is yes. In a traditional farmstead cheese operation, some calves which are born are killed because their mothers produce milk for human consumption. And in many of these calves, rennet is obtained from their stomach lining to coagulate the milk in one of the first stages of cheesemaking.

Can a calf be used to make cheese?

Somehow, cutting a calf’s stomach into pieces to create cheese, or inserting a calf gene into bacteria and yeast to produce bioengineered cheese is not very appealing. Next time, hold the cheese, please!

Is it true that calves are killed to obtain rennet?

The short answer is yes. In a traditional farmstead cheese operation, some calves which are born are killed because their mothers produce milk for human consumption. And in many of these calves, rennet is obtained from their stomach lining to coagulate the milk in one of the first stages…

Why are calves slaughtered on a dairy farm?

Calfs are slaughtered to produce veal —rennet is a byproduct serving a minuscule market compared to the one for the meat. That said, there are other reasons on a dairy farm to cull the herd of male calves, kids and lambs that may have nothing to do with meat production.

Somehow, cutting a calf’s stomach into pieces to create cheese, or inserting a calf gene into bacteria and yeast to produce bioengineered cheese is not very appealing. Next time, hold the cheese, please!

Why is eating cheese so cruel to cows?

Cheese is a byproduct of milk production, so many people feel it’s harmless. We’d like to show you why that’s not true, even if it makes putting bluntly! Why Is Eating Cheese Cruel to Cows?

Is it bad for cows to eat Parmesan cheese?

While not all dairy-based Parmesan cheese has calf rennet (many brands in the U.S. use vegetable rennet in place of animals’ stomach linings), supporting the dairy industry is still bad news for both mother cows and their calves.

Why do they kill baby cows in the dairy industry?

Calf Slaughter – The Killing of Baby Cows. Calf slaughter is a practice very few people know about. However, the slaughter of baby cows is a standard practice in the dairy industry. Like all mammals, cows naturally make milk to nurse their babies. This is why in order for a cow to have milk, she must first be pregnant and have a baby.