Taking milk isn't harmful.

Taking milk is okay

It doesn't harm the cows

Just like with chickens and eggs we tend to have the romantic notion that cows giving us milk is a natural, harmless process from which we just happen to benefit. Indeed the dairy industry has done such a great job of promoting this view (and keeping the reality a secret) that many people don't even make the connection that cows, like all mammals (humans included of course) must give birth to offspring in order to produce milk.
This is because cows make milk for the very same reason humans do - to nourish their newborn babies.
For this reason, it is literally impossible to produce ethical, cruelty-free dairy products. Cows are forcibly and artificially impregnated, carry their calves for nine months (again just like humans) and when the calves are
finally born they are taken from their mothers so we can drink the milk intended for them.
Many people boycott the controversial veal industry as they consider it cruel and barbaric, a place where calves who are confined in restrictive pens and fed a vitamin-deficient diet to keep their flesh soft are slaughtered when still only weeks or months old. Yet many opposing veal still happily consume dairy, unaware that that the only reason veal exists is because of the dairy industry.
Veal calves are the very same calves removed from their mothers at birth so we can consume their milk, the veal industry being a dairy farmer's way of profiting from what is essentially a useless byproduct - male dairy calves. Whilst female calves are often reared to suffer the same fate as their mothers, the males don't produce milk (and are a different breed to those raised for beef) so offer little value to the industry.

In another cruel twist, cows have a particularly strong bond with their newborn calves and will cry out in sadness (sometimes for days) or desperately try and stop their baby from being taken away. One 'spent' dairy cow rescued by a farm sanctuary had such painful memories of her calves being removed that she gave birth in secret and hid the calf in a field, even moving the baby around in an attempt to avoid detection. Another cow at a dairy farm gave birth to twins and made the agonising decision to hide one of them knowing full well the other would be taken away. The cow's plan worked until the farmer noticed her reduced milk production (because she was feeding her baby) and the calf was quickly discovered, removed from his mother and killed.

It's also worth remembering that, like all animal agriculture, the dairy industry is a slaughter industry.
Not only are the male calves removed from their mothers and killed, but the mothers themselves are also slaughtered the second they're no longer useful. A cow's natural lifespan is up to twenty-five years old, but after repeated cycles of forced pregnancy and constant milking the tired, depleted bodies of dairy cows are soon replaced by younger ones. The 'spent' mothers are sent to the slaughterhouse where their flesh is turned into low quality meat products such as ground beef or fast food hamburgers and their skin is removed to make leather. Most dairy cows are slaughtered at four or five years of age.

Our bodies have zero biological need for dairy products. Indeed, around seventy percent of people on the planet are allergic to dairy, naturally losing the ability to digest milk once weaned from that of their mothers.
It's also a pretty poor choice as a source of nutrition. Despite the billion dollar efforts of the dairy industry to convince us otherwise milk doesn't help keep bones strong and is also linked to all manner of health problems.
So why not do both yourself and the animals a favour by choosing one the many dairy free alternatives instead? Non-dairy products have come on leaps and bounds in recent years with genuinely delicious cheeses, ice-creams (even Ben & Jerry's now has a large vegan range) and a huge variety of milks all readily available in supermarkets. Plus as more of us make the switch the demand for non-dairy products will continue to rise, increasing options and variety even further and enabling us to finally turn the page on a cruel and unnecessary practice that is well past its sell-by date.

Below are some videos relating to the issues with dairy production. They show not only the inherent cruelty
of the industry, but also that cows are thinking, feeling individuals (just like the cats and dogs we love)
and not the emotionless milk machines we'd like to believe.
You can also learn a little more about cattle here via the Meet the Animals page.

A calf being
removed
from his mother