[CapstanRoller]

>Many people don't know that you have to milk a dairy cow twice a day because they produce so much milk.

Why? This doesn't seem natural (or ethical)

>In today's world, farmers need to have more cows than they could ever milk by hand.

Why? This doesn't seem sustainable (or ethical)

[n_plus_1_acc]

> >Many people don't know that you have to milk a dairy cow twice a day because they produce so much milk. > > Why? This doesn't seem natural (or ethical) > > >In today's world, farmers need to have more cows than they could ever milk by hand. > > Why? This doesn't seem sustainable (or ethical)

Short answer: capitalism

Longer answer: cows have been bred for more milk throughput, not more milk storage. A good dairy cow can yield up to six and a half gallons every day. The udder is simply not large enough to hold that much milk. Whether this kind of selective breeding can be called natural is up to you.

And milking machines, even the simplest kind that provide just a suction mechanism, are ubiquitous in the developed world and can easily allow the farmer to milk multiple cows in parallel, pipelined. And you need to have some machines to survive on the market. So you get more cows to increase the yield. These machines are usually very reliable, so people begin to rely on them. If you can get them fixed weithin a couple hours you're good.

[funac]

it's animal agriculture - it's as far from natural, sustainable, or ethical as you can get.