THE PERNICIOUS PRACTICE OF FEEDING DISTILLERY SLOP TO DAIRY COWS

Abstract

Robert M. Hartley (1796-1881) was one of the founders and for many years secretary of the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. In his long-forgotten Essay on Milk,¹ he vividly described the appalling dairy practices in New York City in the 1840s.

He wrote:

The manner of producing milk to supply the inhabitants of cities and other populous places, is so contrary to our knowledge of the laws which govern the animal economy, that from a bare statement of the facts, any intelligent mind might confidently anticipate the evils which actually result from it. The natural and healthy condition of the cows, appears, for the most part, to be utterly disregarded. They are literally crowded together in large numbers in filthy pens, which at once deprives them of aequate exercise and pure air, both of which are indispensably essential to their health.... The dairies have been formed around the distilleries, for the purpose of consuming on the spot the slop refuse.... The cow-pens are rude, unsightly wooden buildings, varying from fifty to two hundred feet in length, and about thirty feet in breadth. They are very irregularly arranged, so as to cover the entire ground, excepting narrow avenues between; and appear to have been temporarily constructed, as the arrival of new dairies required enlargements for their accommodation.... Let the visitor go into the midst of the pens, when crowded with cattle... and inhale but one breath of the polluted air, and an inexpressible impression of heart-sickening disgust will be produced, which time will never efface....