It’s difficult to point to who first coined the term “forced impregnation.” However, it undoubtedly came from one or more animal rights activists who wished to use a term that generated strong, negative emotions in educating the masses about how cattle farming actually works. It’s an easily-remembered term that sticks with you and has been repeated many, many times by all militant vegans, like these quoted below:

“Have you ever thought about forcibly impregnating your cat and then killing its children so that you can steal its milk? […] So few of us are exposed to how these animals are treated and killed. Ignorance is definitely one of the man driving forces behind speciesism…”

This quote is from Vegan Gains, a vegan YouTube influencer. And, this is from another YouTube vegan influencer, Joey Carbstrong in an Australian morning talk show (c. 2019):

Joey: “..and when she can’t produce milk anymore, she’s murdered for her body, okay? Her mother…”

Host 1: “And so, the rape is the insemination?”

Joey: “Well, it’s forible impregnation, isn’t it? If it was any… it’s, it’s the victim… if it was a human being we’d call it, what? What would we call it?”

Host 1 & 2: [after awkward moment of silence] “[But it’s] it’s not a human being, it’s a cow… “

Joey: “It’s forcible… it’s sexual abuse…”

To get down to the actual origin, regardless of who decided to coin it (as well as attribute it to rape), no doubt this came from non-farming, deeply-urbanized people who had the good intention of finding out how meat and milk get to their plates.

I imagine they were shocked to their core when they found out the truth. No doubt, too, that they felt outraged and angry upon realizing that animals are treated horrifically by the meat and dairy industries. So, they abstain from all animal products and also decide it’s their obligation to educate the masses who are, to paraphrase what VG said above, “definitely ignorant of the truth.”

These people believe that animals are much like us humans, with the same feelings, thoughts, actions, reactions, and wants of various freedoms of life. Anthropomorphism is the fuel that feeds the fire of the belief that no animals should be used or killed for food.

There are two primary aspects that explain why the term “forced impregnation” is such a strong belief among ARAs and militant abolitionist vegans:

1. Human [mis]interpretation of bovine behaviour & psychology,
2. Grossness and disgust over the “ugly realities” of how animals are raised for food.

More will be discussed on another page (see button below), however, it helps to provide an overview in the next block.

A cow (or heifer) acts differently when she’s “in heat.” Her hormone (estrogen) levels are at their highest, and this causes a drastic change in her behaviour.

Normally, she is mostly focused on eating, drinking, chewing cud every few hours, and having regular, neutral interactions with her herd mates. But when she’s in estrus, she almost becomes a different animal.

Estrus is the term used for when a female ruminant (and many non-ruminant) animals are “in heat.” In cattle, it lasts about 24 hours.

Cows (and heifers) in heat are often vocal, move around a lot, and attract other females to mount them. When going in heat or just coming out of heat, sometimes they’ll try to ride other females, and even the bull if he’s in with her. (There are other more “graphic” details you can find in the Ruminant “Heat” Cycling page* above.)

During the thick of it, the cow or heifer will readily stand to be mounted. Without objection. If there are multiple bulls available, multiple bulls will breed her, or at least try (if they don’t try to injure each other and fight over her first).

The term estrous refers to the whole reproductive cycle of the female ruminant bovine. It lasts around 21 days. The cow (or heifer) is not receptive to mating during any of this time except during estrus.

This is important because it explains that a cow or heifer is not able to get pregnant at any other time except during estrus. This is regardless if it’s via natural breeding where she copulates with a bull, or artificial insemination (AI).

Countless research studies have shown that cows and heifers have a very low chance of getting pregnant if AI’d anytime except when they’re in or just going out of heat.

In other words, it’s a waste of a farmer’s time and money on semen to attempt to “forcibly impregnate” cows when they’re not in heat. They will not “catch,” or become pregnant. To prevent this, farmers work with veterinarians and AI technicians (who are specially trained to AI cattle), to monitor their animals and time their cycles just right so they can get pregnant.

Let’s briefly discuss how artificial insemination is done next.

The term “forced” in “forced impregnation” makes it sound like AI is done so roughly, carelessly and callously to the animal that it undergoes tremendous suffering. Never mind the claim that it’s equivalent to sexual assault in humans.

Keep in mind that the term is used to invoke anger and disgust at the alleged cruel treatment of dairy cows on farms.

The problem is that these beliefs are misconstrued, deliberately promoting feelings that are equally misguided.

Truthfully, AI has to be done in a gentle, kind manner; at least as much as is possible for a big, 1400 lb cow.

Being anything less than forceful with a long, thin, metal rod and needing to go in and grab that cervix can cause irreparable damage to that cow. Punching even just one hole in either the rectal wall or vaginal wall is a death sentence for that cow. 

Such damage is impossible to fix without the farmer having to spend thousands of dollars on that one animal for it to live for another 5 to 10 years.

Cows aren’t cheap to replace. It’s important that they are cared for as long as possible as well as possible.

That includes having an AI tech that knows what they’re doing and has a good reputation for taking care of every cow and heifer they are hired to AI (plus successfully getting them pregnant).

Both the farmer and the AI tech would have to be really stupid to be rough and careless in breeding their cows… or any cows, for that matter.

It pays to be kind and caring to animals. Healthy, well-cared-for animals produce more and better quality milk (and meat). That is a scientifically-proven fact.

It should come to no surprise that most people believe that bulls are not that dangerous. They look too big to move all that fast, they have a slow, methodical manner about them, and always seem far more interested in eating and chewing cud than plotting the next attack on an unsuspecting human, and quickly enacting on it.

However, anyone who has ever worked with cattle in their lives know that this belief is false. More people have died from being gored, trampled, and crushed by cattle–bulls especially, but cows are just as guilty–than sharks. This can be attributed to rough handling practices, or people getting complacent and doing stupid things they should’ve known better to do when working with cattle, or, especially with bulls, being way too comfortable around humans and, in the “right time and place,” seeing them as foe versus friend.

Bulls, fully-grown are heavier than cows, weighing from 1800 to well over 2500 pounds. By comparison, cows are 1000 to 1600 pounds. They are big, heavy, powerful, and surprisingly fast. They MUST be treated with respect, because they deserve it.

In context of “are cows forcibly impregnated,” the bull is an important point to make in regards to both the dairy operation.

All dairy bulls are usually raised as bottle-babies. This, unfortunately, removes their fear of humans, making them more comfortable around humans and that much more dangerous.

Many dairy operations choose to not keep any full-grown bulls around. But some still do. The main reason is to breed heifers for the first time, or as heat-detection, or as “clean-up” bulls to catch any cows that might have been missed–or simply did not successfully conceive–after being artificially inseminated.

Bulls kept to breed heifers are often young yearlings themselves. They aren’t kept for longer than their second birthday because of their size, and the fact they know they can easily scare and intimidate humans during any of their testosterone-induced rages.

People often assume that all cows–and other ruminant animals–should be treated like house pets.

Thus, if they’re not, they’re being treated horribly, thereby supporting the allegation that “[dairy] cows are forcibly impregnated,” so that we can, “steal their milk from them and kill their babies.”

This is the “natural” assumption that all ARAs make in the context of all thing animal agriculture and cows. Unfortunately for them, their assumption is wrong because of their extreme disconnect from reality.

The reality is that cows are treated more than “just commodities,” an inference used by militant vegans to assume that cows are seen as nothing more than feed-consuming, calf- and milk-producing machines by farmers. Concern for their welfare is both asset and liability, because it pays to take good care of all cows on the farm, so that they’re all healthy, productive, and happy as they could be.

But, those animals are not pets. They’re livestock. They’re not free-loaders who get to have free room and board–plus free food and free healthcare–and don’t have to work for it like with our family pets. They’re basically “employees” that have to work for their keep.

If they’re not doing their job (or have done it for long enough but can’t keep up with the young’uns anymore), most usually get one-way ticket to freezer camp. Very few get special service to retire as free-loaders on the farm until it’s their time. (They’d have to be really special to deserve that.)

They’re not coddled like our family pets always are with as many pets, pats, nose-boops and scratchies from head to tail as possible. They aren’t cuddled either.

You might think that’s cruel and mean. But, ask the animals themselves: they seem to prefer it that way. They’d probably much rather be around their own kind than a bipedal non-cow that looks and smells too much like a feared predator. Give them enough time and patience and they’ll become desensitized to these suspiciously over-friendly creatures, but they still prefer members of their own who they can better understand and feel much safer with.

You can’t blame them, really.

See, all ruminants see us as predators, and themselves as our prey to potentially hunt down and kill. Our forward-facing eyes, our very primal demeanor and the way we smell tells them that we are likely more foe than friend. Their domestication by us has made them considerably tamer than their wild cousins, but that doesn’t stop their instincts to be wary of us and keep us at a safe distance at all times.