The Birthing Center Returns to The New York State Fair
Our Fair Coalition is back with 32 members from 20 states across the US. This group is made up of sanctuaries large and small who are committed to educating the public about the realities of state and county fairs. Check out our coalition page to learn more and see all the participating members.
We are re-launching our petition to shut down the Dairy Cow Birthing Center at the New York State Fair, and have big plans for the fall to continue our fight. Want to learn about the Dairy Cow Birthing Center from the perspective of our Education Manager, Anna Balser? Read her personal account of the NY State Fair Dairy Cow Birthing Center from her visit in 2023:
Two weeks ago, I arrived at the New York State Fair to observe and document the Dairy Cow Birthing Center, hosted by the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition. I knew it would be difficult to watch pregnant cows labor and give birth, and then to see their babies stolen from them. But the messages that the Birthing Center promotes, and the way almost everyone around me was talking about the cows was just as hard to process.
There is a strange thing happening in the Birthing Center. People admire and encourage the laboring cows, they say “congratulations” to the mothers who give birth, and they fawn over the newborn calves. It almost seems sweet... if you aren’t paying attention.
An image we captured from the NY State Fair Birthing Center in 2023
The volunteers who run the Center are tasked with a singular goal: to justify the common practices of the dairy industry to the public. For example, as you see a mother cow licking her newborn, you’re also hearing a volunteer say that dairy cows are ‘bad moms.’ When you see a mother cow being milked by machine while her baby sits alone on a plastic sled out of reach, you’ll hear them say that the baby won’t get enough milk from their mom if they nurse from her naturally. The fact that mammals have successfully fed their babies without human intervention for millions of years never comes up.
We know that for many people, seeing the standard practices and treatment of cows on dairy farms is enough to end their consumption of dairy. The Birthing Center is banking on the public trusting them enough to suspend their critical thinking, ignore what they’re seeing, and believe the volunteers—many of whom are dairy farmers themselves. Underpinning everything at the Birthing Center is the message that ‘dairy is necessary’, suggesting that no matter how we might feel about forced impregnation and birth, it is worth it for the end product.
“All of my experiences at the Birthing Center led me to a simple conclusion: the dairy industry doesn’t want you to be truly informed”
I spoke directly with volunteers at the Birthing Center. Each piece of information they provided me had some positive spin on it... sometimes to the point of being incorrect. A volunteer told me that cows are impregnated for the first time around the age of two (correct), and that they would “just keep having babies forever” (stop). Fact check: dairy cows are sent to slaughter around 6-7 years old on average, which is less than half of their natural lifespan. And let’s not forget, the only reason cows continually give birth is because of forced impregnation for milk production. The volunteers seemed surprised I had follow-up questions, and knew details about the industry. It seems they are used to being the unquestioned authority, no matter how absurd the narrative.
Photo taken at NY State Fair Birthing Center, 2023. The few moments this mother had with her calf.
Speaking of an example of absurd misinformation: There was a display about how dairy farming is environmentally sustainable and how much farmers care about the environment. A sign pointed visitors to a building across the fairgrounds to learn more about how farmers are conservationists. I went to the building in pursuit of more information, only to be met with a blank stare by the person staffing the conservation area there. He had no idea what I was talking about.
All of my experiences at the Birthing Center led me to a simple conclusion: the dairy industry doesn’t want you to be truly informed; they want you to take their word for it as “experts” in dairy farming. To be truly informed, we can’t uncritically accept information from those whose livelihoods depend on a positive perception of the dairy industry. Look at the cows, look at their babies cordoned off on the other side of the tent, and decide what you think for yourself.