Manipulation for Exploitation: The Use of Horses in the Dairy Industry
- The Young Vegan
- 35 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The dairy industry is terrible. Male cows are used for their semen, which is then processed and packaged as a product to buy on the internet. Female cows are forcibly impregnated with the semen, only to have their babies stolen after birth so that humans can collect their milk. Nature was never meant to be this way. No other animal drinks the milk of another creature, and no animal is meant to consume milk after weaning. This is why so many people are lactose intolerant; it's not meant to be a part of our diet. But, in all this, the cows used in this process are given a hormone to enable them to get pregnant when the farmer wants. This hormone is not synthetic; it's a natural hormone made by pregnant horses.
Equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) is a hormone with controversial use in animal agriculture. In animal agriculture, it has practical uses in livestock reproduction. However, the way it is obtained raises serious concerns about continued animal exploitation and poor welfare.
What Is Equine Chorionic Gonadotropin?
Equine chorionic gonadotropin is a hormone produced by pregnant mares, specifically by the cells of the placenta. It plays a key role for farmers in regulating reproductive hormones in other animals, especially livestock such as pigs and sheep. Farmers and veterinarians use eCG to improve fertility and synchronise breeding cycles, to improve the efficiency of animal production and increase their profits.
The hormone mimics natural reproductive hormones, stimulating ovulation and supporting pregnancy in treated animals. To obtain the most potent eCG, mares will go through bloodletting between days 40-140 of their pregnancy. These blood lettings can happen on a daily basis in the worst situations, leaving mares sick and anaemic.
How Is eCG Obtained?
To collect eCG, pregnant mares are kept in confined conditions on specialised farms, often called "blood farms." Blood is drawn from the mares multiple times during their pregnancy to extract the hormone. This is a stressful and painful process for the horses, as it involves repeated needle insertions and prolonged restraint.
The mares are typically pregnant for only part of the year and may be subjected to multiple pregnancies over several years to maintain hormone production. After their productive years, many mares face uncertain futures, including slaughter or neglect.
The Use of Horses in the Dairy Industry
eCG is primarily used in the livestock industry for pigs, but also to breed sheep and goats and to impregnate cows for dairy production. The uses of eCG are:
Inducing ovulation in animals that have irregular or delayed cycles.
Synchronising oestrus (heat cycles) to allow timed breeding or artificial insemination.
Improving conception rates in pigs, sheep, and cattle.
Supporting early pregnancy in animals prone to reproductive failure.
All of these uses help increase production and profits for farmers. However, the benefits for livestock production come at a serious cost to the welfare of the mares used to produce the hormone.
What This Means for Horses
The practice of collecting eCG raises serious animal welfare concerns:
Stress and discomfort: Frequent blood draws cause pain and distress.
Confinement: Mares are often kept in small stalls with limited movement.
Repeated pregnancies: Mares may be bred repeatedly to maintain hormone production.
End of life: After hormone production declines, mares may be sold for slaughter or abandoned.
These conditions highlight a clear case of animal exploitation, where the well-being of horses is sacrificed for economic gain. Advocates for animal equality argue that this practice is unnecessary and cruel; this is partly due to the negative impact the eCG has on the animals it is used on.
In pig farming, eCG is used to manipulate the breeding of sows. The hormone regulates the reproductive cycle of pigs, allowing farmers to synchronise pregnancies, but also increases litter sizes. This leads to piglets being born small, weak and malnourished. The extra piglets are often slaughtered or die from malnourishment when sows don't have enough teats to feed them.
The hormone is also used to speed up puberty in young sows. As in any animal, this can have serious health implications, including early infertility leading to slaughter.
Why We Don’t Need eCG
The use of horses in the dairy industry isn't necessary. We don't need eCG because we don't need to breed animals for meat or dairy. Although there are instances where people cannot rely on plant-based foods for all their nutrients, for many of us this is not the case. We can get all of the nutrients that we need from plant-based foods, including fortified products such as plant milks and supplements where necessary. If people shifted to this way of eating, the use of eCG would become obsolete.
What We Can Do to Stop the Practice
Ending the use of eCG from pregnant mares requires action from consumers, farmers, and policymakers:
Support vegan and cruelty-free products: Choosing plant-based or lab-grown alternatives, for those who want them, reduces demand for animal-derived hormones.
Raise awareness: Educate others about the realities of eCG production and its impact on horses.
Advocate for regulation: Push for laws that ban or restrict blood farms and promote ethical hormone alternatives.
Encourage transparency: Demand that livestock producers disclose hormone use and animal welfare practices.
By promoting animal equality and opposing animal exploitation, we can help end this industry in favour of more humane and sustainable methods.
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