Farmers often resort to large factories where they grow and raise various livestock with the use of hormones and antibiotics.  The methods of dairy and veal production include impregnating cows via selective breeding to induce lactation and to produce the most amount of milk per cow.  The baby calves are usually removed from thier mothers and fed an alternative milk mixture within one to three days.  This ensures that the baby calves do not drink the milk intended for human consumption (1).

    In terms of livestock, animals are given a dosage of antibiotics, which are introduced into their food by the farmer.  Farmers also include various growth hormones as apart of their livestock's daily drug regimen.  Furthermore, due to the increased demand for inexpensive animal products, a form of agriculture, termed agribusiness, has been adopted to describe the kind of highly efficient and mechanized farms used today.  Factory farms are high-production, largely mechanized indoor settings where animals are heavily crowded.  Excessive subtherapeutic drug use, such as the ones described above, and the withholding of food and water from the livestock are implemented to ensure good health and regulate biological cycles, especially during transport (2).

              
Over-crowded Hog Farms and          The Poultry Agribusiness
The Use of Cages In Agriculture

    Female calves are raised to replace older dairy cows, while male calves are used for their meat. Many male calves are raised and slaughtered for beef, but others are used for veal--either slaughtered within a few days for the low-grade variety, or confined to small crates for months to be raised for “milk-fed” veal. “Milk-fed” veal calves are actually fed only a milk substituted mixture which is devoid of essential nutrients such as iron. The borderline anemia brought about by this iron deficiency, combined with a complete lack of exercise (a calf cannot even turn around in its wooden crate) guarantees that the resulting meat is a tender pinkish-white, which is the quality of veal most appreciated by consumers.  With a plentiful supply of young cows to replace those with declining levels of milk production, cows are routinely slaughtered for inexpensive ground beef. In fact, although healthy cows can live for 20 to 25 years, our modern dairy cows are typically slaughtered after only a few years (1).

(1) TheVegetarianSite.com: Animal Agriculture

(2) Fraser & Broom 1990; Mason & Singer 1990; Fox 1984