Dear Editor,

Once again the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) is trying to hoodwink consumers who are increasingly concerned about animal welfare ("O'Neil Dairy of Loleta featured on PBS show; locals bucking a trend in the dairy business," March 10, Humboldt Beacon), this time by sponsoring a TV program.

One thing the show almost certainly omits is the traumatic experience of the forcible separation of the mother cow from her newborn calf so that we can drink the milk she produces to nourish her child. Cows on dairy farms can often be seen frantically searching and calling for their babies after they have been taken away. And since cows must be repeatedly impregnated to keep giving milk, they have to endure this heartbreak again and again.

It's even less likely that the program will include footage of cows -- prematurely exhausted from years of intensive milk production -- being trucked through all weather extremes to face the terror and pain of slaughter for cheap hamburgers. Like CMAB's intentionally misleading "Happy Cows" commercials, "Chef's A' Field" appears designed to whitewash the true nature of dairy factory farms, on which most cows spend their lives in large sheds or on feces-caked mud lots where disease is rampant.

Readers who want to learn the complete story of how cows live on California dairy farms should visit UnhappyCows.com.

Jeff Mackey

Research Specialist

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Norfolk, Va.