That's what I wonder given how grim the parent makes it sound compared to my experiences, but I haven't been around enough farms in the US to say with any absolute certainty.
The average heard size in Canada is about 60 cows and you can make a decent living with that. From what I understand the in US, 60 cows will leave you living in absolute poverty. If you cannot afford to live yourself, I expect the cows won't have much of a life either. But that's just an assumption.
It is a good question though, and especially timely as the Canadian government is seriously leaning towards scrapping the quota system entirely.