
A Milk Startup Takes on 300M Cows - jkuria
https://www.wsj.com/articles/techs-new-frontier-the-worlds-largest-dairy-herd-1530897704
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steve19
A friend of mine, a chemistry teacher, taught in an Indian school for a number
of years. He said a huge problem was buying milk for the students that wasn't
cut with bad water and/or other chemicals. They tried paying above market
price, equivalent to the price of pure milk, and it worked for a while, but he
kept testing the milk and found the vendor eventually started diluting the
milk. I guess the temptation was great.

This startup looks like it may solve that problem!

~~~
nordsieck
Apparently many people in China buy imported powdered milk for the same reason
- the local stuff may be adulterated.

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toomanybeersies
Not that the powder being imported stops adulteration from happening:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal)

There is a cottage industry in Australia and New Zealand of people sending
back milk powder and infant formula to China, often with newspapers or other
proof that the package originated in Australia or NZ. There's no guarantee
that the "NZ milk powder" you buy in China is real, however a sealed package
from NZ is fairly certainly going to be real. I used to have a colleague from
China who would bring an extra suitcase filled with infant formula and
multivitamins evert time he went back home to China for his relatives.

There are now limits on the amount of infant formula you can buy at
supermarkets here, especially in areas with a high concentration of Asian
immigrants. Supermarket shelves were getting cleared out by grey-market
exporters.

~~~
chii
I'm surprised the response to grey market exporters is to limit sales.

Why not produce more? I don't believe there's a shortage of milk in Aus.

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baxtr
It's a controversial issue, but I try to refrain from eating any type of dairy
products (with mixed results) because of two main reasons:

\- It seems that science is supporting a vegan lifestyle for longevity/a
longer health span [1]

\- Cows are so bad for the environment...

[1] [https://valterlongo.com/daily-longevity-
diet/](https://valterlongo.com/daily-longevity-diet/)

~~~
mark212
I'd rather milk them than kill them for hamburger and shoes.

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cies
For milk to come the cow needs to deliver a calf. How long will you allow the
calf to drink her mums milk, before you decide that calf hurts your bottom
line?

Most commonly the calf is removed from the mom in a few hours, after which the
mum is crying for her kid for several days.

Dairy is super cruel, besides it being very unhealthy for humans (especially
humans after their weening phase).

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Simon_says
> the mum is crying for her kid

Sounds awful. Do you have a reference where I can read/watch more about it?

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cageface
This video sums up the dark side of the dairy industry pretty well:

[https://youtu.be/UcN7SGGoCNI](https://youtu.be/UcN7SGGoCNI)

~~~
Gustomaximus
I'd say that video shows the worst of the dairy industry.

I grew up spending time on a grandparents dairy over school holidays. It was
nothing like this video. Yes you do have things like farms putting their arm
up cows vigina and bobby calves being separated. But usually it's a clean and
non-traumatic process. Things like the mastitis and blood in the milk is
unusual.

While I dont doubt there are some highly cruel and unethical operations
running, on the dairy farms I used to spend time on those farmers love their
animals. That's what these video rarely show, the care and love farmers have
for their animals. And 99% of the time that animal is happy and well looked
after. But grab clips of the worst farmers at their worst moments and this is
what you get.

~~~
cageface
The vast majority of milk on supermarket shelves comes from factory farms
operating exactly as described in the video. But even the best run boutique
family dairy farms are going to have to figure out what to do with their male
calves.

Watch this recent German documentary to see the reaction when a Bavarian dairy
farmer that takes pride in treating her animals well sees the ultimate
horrific fate of one of her male calves:

[https://youtu.be/295wKcuDGQk](https://youtu.be/295wKcuDGQk)

~~~
Gustomaximus
1) My grandparents operation and a few others I have spent time with were from
boutique operations. At least in the regions I have seen the majority of the
market is not based on suppliers as you say. Perhaps there is data to the
contrary as my experience is within 2 regional bubbles only, but your
statement is not true in these regions.

2) I speed watch through a good part of the documentary. 100% there is some
horrifyingly bad footage there. I feel its fair to note what I saw in Germany
/ France the animals are treated well. The horrifying footage was largely shot
in developing countries in the middle east. This supports what my original
comment was about, the information being provided shows a skewed view. And I
haven't seen anything to change my mind that in some regions animals are
treated well and looked after. And in others, they are not.

~~~
cageface
The point of the video is that dairy farms generate surplus male calves, which
have to be disposed of somehow. The male calves may be treated well when
they're being raised but it's those very same male calves that are often
shipped abroad from countries like Germany to meet the fate you see there.
This is an intrinsic part of the dairy business because cows must be kept
pregnant to produce milk. I think you should watch the whole thing because you
missed the point.

At least in the US, 80% of the milk sold is from factory farms, where cows are
certainly _not_ treated well.

[https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/how-boycott-milk-
fac...](https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/how-boycott-milk-factory-
farms)

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neonate
[http://archive.is/xeCxt](http://archive.is/xeCxt)

~~~
amingilani
I came to ask for a non-paywall link, thank you for posting this.

Not all heroes wear capes.

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debacle
I love this picture:

[https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/B3-BA230_0704MI_M...](https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/B3-BA230_0704MI_M_20180704165807.jpg)

Something about the woman in the lab coat, with a generation of men standing
around her while the older generation looks on, calf and all. It's very
reminiscent of early 20th century paintings from the US.

~~~
21
There truly is a stock photo for everything.

Business woman with headset and laptop milking cow:

[https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/woman-milking-cow-
business-f...](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/woman-milking-cow-business-
farm-32612992.jpg)

[https://st2.depositphotos.com/4319567/7421/i/950/depositphot...](https://st2.depositphotos.com/4319567/7421/i/950/depositphotos_74215425-stock-
photo-businesswoman-milking-cow-on-farm.jpg)

~~~
azinman2
Wow. I’d love to know the backstory on that.

~~~
GW150914
Powerful drugs and paying by the hour seems like they have to be included in
the necessary Venn diagram.

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snambi
Huh... the last thing you want is a company that tries to "invent" some
nonsense to improve the "cows".

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sebastianavina
Mexican Lala goes to india I guess?

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gonvaled
Not sure what you imply, but chlorinated chicken

