A question for all you vegans, no milk?

Question

howcome you dont drink milk? i grew up on and worked on farms. ive seen dairy cows who havent been milked on time and they are in pain. cant hardly walk. but when they are finished being milked they are much happier. so it obviously causes no pain to the cow.

Answer 1

What you guys are saying isn't a vegan. What you're saying is about organics. On an actual farm that isn't a factory farm, they milk their cows the organic way, but they still drink the milk. Vegans don't drink milk in general.... so, yeah. Go live on a farm and see if the cows are chained.

Answer 2

Why doesn't the calf drink the milk? Is it because the calf is separated from the mother so it will not drink her milk?  Where is the calf taken? Often they become veal calves. Having worked on a farm, you should be aware that cows produce milk for the reason that other mammals do - to feed their young. It is not like cows would just be producing milk and in dire pain until the kind farmer comes to relieve them.

Aside from the treatment of the calf and the anguish removing her baby causes to the cow, there is also the issue of the conditions the cow is kept in. On factory farms, these conditions can be especially bad.

These, of course, are just the animal welfare issues. When you get in to issues about the large amount of crops the cows consume (cows eat far more corn than human in the US do, making them a major source of the high levels of demand which push food prices up and hurt the global poor), environmental damages caused by the farms, and the health issues often associated with dairy consumption, there's a lot of reasons for a person to not drink cow milk. Which is the decisive reason for a vegan will depend largely on their reasons for being a vegan.

Answer 3

Like all other mammals, cows produce milk for their own babies. Calves born on dairy farms are taken from their mothers when they are just one day old and fed milk replacers so that humans can have the milk instead.

I also don't drink milk because veal is a direct by-product of the dairy industry. In order for dairy cows to keep producing milk, they must be repeatedly impregnated. The male calves born to dairy cows are taken from their mothers when they're as young as one day old and chained in tiny stalls to be raised for veal.

Answer 4

well first what do they do to the babies? they get rid of them so they dont drink the milk that people uses. I dont think they feed them with something else. second  the caws have to spent the rest of their life milking for people. they just dont have a normal life. when they are not milking there carring a fetus. so they do suffer.

Answer 5

this is the reasons below why I don't drink milk, the farm you worked on may of been different.

The Dairy Cow

Cow's Milk - What is it?

Cow's milk is a liquid secreted by the mammary glands of the adult female cow to nourish her young calf until weaned. Before the cow can produce milk, in common with other species of mammal, she must first become pregnant and give birth.

The Modern Dairy Industry

Modern dairy farming has become an intensive industry. To produce maximum milk yields, dairy cows are pushed to their physiological limits through a combination of selective breeding, high-protein feeds, and the latest technology. Along with the production of pigs, chickens and eggs, milk production has become just another factory farm operation.

Specialist breeds of dairy cow suited to local conditions have largely disappeared from our countryside. The high yielding and highly bred Holstein-Friesian, the ubiquitous black and white cow, now makes up 90% of the European's (EU) dairy herd. Herd sizes have increased as dairy production has become concentrated on fewer and fewer farms. [1]

Milk yields have increased dramatically. In the 1940's, cows were producing an average of 3,000 litres of milk per cow per year. By 1983/84, average milk yields had increased to 4,940 litres, and by 1995, over 6,300 litres per cow per year were being achieved. [2] The strain of higher milk yield can lead to serious welfare problems such as increased mastitis, lameness, and infertility [3]. The average milking life of a cow has steadily decreased. A cow's natural lifespan could be 25 years. Most modern dairy cows are sent for slaughter at about 5 years old, after only three or four lactations. [4]

As the UK Government's own welfare advisory body puts it: "Forcing a cow to produce excessively high quantities of milk and thereby causing metabolic stress which leads to early culling is also an important welfare issue." [5]

Distress to Young Calf & Mother

The harsh reality is that to produce milk, a cow must have a calf. To maximise production, each calf is taken from its mother within 24-48 hours of birth. Calves would naturally suckle for 6-12 months.

Separation is a distressing process as mother and calf form a strong maternal bond. Dairy cow husbandry expert, Professor John Webster described the removal of the calf as the "most potentially distressing incident in the life of the dairy cow". Webster points out that "the cow will submit herself to considerable personal discomfort or risk to nourish and protect her calf". [6] Examples of this are cows that have escaped and travelled several miles to find their own calf after it has been sold on to another farm. [7]

Raising the Calves

A proportion of female calves are selected as "herd replacements". Reared for the cowshed, these usually spend their first 6-8 weeks of life confined individually in narrow pens. Taken from their mother, and unable to interact meaningfully with their fellows, these calves suffer behavioural deprivation, which can affect them for life. [8] Alternatively, calves may be reared in groups. With either method, calves are usually fed by artificial teat or bucket.

The young calf is particularly vulnerable to disease. To help boost the calve's immunity, it is essential that they receive colostrum, the mother's first milk, which contains extra nutrients and antibodies against disease. However, calves born to mothers with long, pendulous udders can have difficulty locating the udder. Each year, about 170,000 calves die within their first month of life. Scouring (diarrhoea) and respiratory infections are common killers. [9]

Mutilations

Calves can be subjected to a range of painful mutilations. Male calves have traditionally been castrated. In the UK, three methods are used; a rubber ring or other device is used to restrict the flow of blood to the s*****m within the first week of life; so-called "bloodless castration" by physically crushing the spermatic cords and surgical castration, both usually carried out within 2 months of birth. All three methods cause acute pain. [10] Under these conditions, there is no legal requirement for an anaesthetic to be used or a vet to be present.

Calves are often disbudded to prevent their horns growing, or are dehorned in later life. Both procedures are painful and stressful. [11] Disbudding involves applying a heated iron to the horn buds of young calves up to about 2 months old. If carried out within the first week, the law does not require an anaesthetic to be used. Dehorning involves cutting off the older animal's horns using a saw, horn shears or cutting wire, and cauterising the exposed blood vessels. Mercifully, an anaesthetic is required by law.

Some female calves are born with one or more extra (supernumerary) teats, which are often removed using surgical scissors.

Unwanted Male Calves

The modern dairy cow has been bred to be so specialised for milk, rather than meat production, that male calves of the pure dairy breed are perceived by many farmers as not being worth rearing for meat. These pitiful calves were those exported from the UK to be reared in cruel veal crates on the European continent. Half a million calves about 2 weeks old were transported over long distances to be reared in a system so cruel it was banned in the UK in 1990.

The live export trade in tiny calves was stopped in the 1990's, due to BSE fears and the worldwide ban on British beef and calf exports. Instead, a Government scheme, the Calf Processing Aid Scheme, paid farmers to have these calves killed when just days old. This scheme was terminated in 1999. Male calves - the unwanted by-products of the dairy industry - continue to be treated like disposable waste rather than as sentient beings. All too often, they are likely to face an early death. Government advice for killing calves on farm is that "a free bullet or shotgun are preferred methods". [12]

Veal

The veal crate is a narrow, solid-sided wooden box in which calves are unable even to turn around, let alone exercise, for the 4-6 month rearing period before slaughter. The UK banned narrow veal crates in 1990 and the EU, on Dec 31 2006. Under these new EU rules, calves must be housed either in groups or in individual pens that allow the animals to turn round. Minimum iron content and fibre must be given to all calves over two weeks old.

The Suffering of the Mother

A cow's milk production is caused by the birth of her calf. To maximise production, the modern dairy cow is made pregnant again whilst lactating. She will bear a calf each year until worn out and sent for slaughter. Most dairy cows are inseminated artificially. She will have her first calf when 2 years old. She will continue to be milked for 10 months - but will be made pregnant again in the third month. Only during the final few weeks of this pregnancy will she be dried out and her overworked udder given a rest. The amount of milk produced by the cow in peak lactation is more than 10 times the amount that the calf would naturally drink.

Grossly Overworked

The industry's quest for higher milk yield has imposed great stress on the dairy cow's metabolism. So great that she no longer has the natural capacity to keep up with her over-producing udder. To keep pace, the cow's natural food of grass and herbs is supplemented with high-protein concentrated feeds based on grains, soya and fishmeal, which can result in increased gut and foot problems.

Professor John Webster, in The Welfare of Dairy Cattle, states, "The amount of work done by the cow in peak lactation is immense...To achieve a comparably high work rate a human would have to jog for about 6 hours a day, every day." The Professor sums up the situation in saying, "The modern dairy cow may be compared to a highly tuned racing car designed to run as fast as possible on very high grade fuel. As with Grand Prix cars, the results are, at best spectacular but at least unreliable and at worst catastrophic."

The price of high milk yield can be seen in the serious welfare problems in dairy cows...

Mastitis

Mastitis is a painful udder infection that occurs in all dairy herds. Some 35-40 incidences of mastitis are found per 100 cows. [13] The bacterial infection causes inflammation and swelling of the udder, which can become hard and hot with an abnormal discharge. Antibiotics are injected into the teats of affected cows to treat the disease.

Ketosis

High-yielding dairy cows are prone to Ketosis, a condition that usually occurs in early lactation. It is brought on by the cow's metabolism having to work too hard to sustain milk production. This causes the cow to metabolise her own body fat to make milk, resulting in excessive amounts of ketone bodies in the liver. [14] Dairy cow expert, Professor Webster states, "Humans with ketosis and liver damage feel extremely unwell and we may reasonably assume the same for cows."

Lameness

Lameness is a painful and serious animal welfare issue. The rate of lameness in the UK dairy herd is believed to be 55 cases a year for every 100 cows. High-yielding cows are more vulnerable to lameness due to the metabolic strain they are under. [15] Another important cause of lameness is the fact that cowsheds built 25-35 years ago were designed for traditional breeds. The longer-bodied Holstien-freisians that now make up the majority of the EU dairy herd are too long for their cubicles. Their back legs are all too often standing in the dunging passage, where the soles of their feet can soften and crack, allowing infection to enter. [16]

Bovine Somatotropin (BST)

Not content with dairy cows pushed to their physical limits, the genetic engineer has come up with the milk-boosting hormone, Bovine Somatotrophin (BST). BST is a genetic

Answer 6

It's a bit rich to pat ourselves on the back for relieving a cow's pain when we caused her to get pregnant and lactate to begin with, then took away her baby, who would normally keep her out of the misery of engorgement.  Sort of like applauding ourselves for providing the antidote to someone we ourselves poisoned.

Commercial dairy production is cruel and inhumane.  The industry itself refers to it's method of artificial insemination as the "rape rack."  Male calves are sold to veal.  Mastitis runs rampant, chemicals are used to solve every problem that arises from infection to slowing production.  Dairy cows are spent from the pregnancy/lactation cycle and are sent to slaughter at just 4-6 years old, instead of the 20+ they should live.  Vegans don't believe than animals should suffer, be used as commodities, or be slaughtered for our food, so we don't support an industry that does all of that.

Answer 7

Cows are kept artifically pregnant so they keep producing milk. If we did not do that, they would produce no milk, so we create the need for them to be milked. THat  milk was intended for their calves, not to serve humans. They are also fed hormones to increase their milk production to unnatural levels. They are chained up in cages for their whole lives, until they stop producing milk, then they are sent to make meat for fast food restaurants. A cow can live 20 years, the average dairy cow lives 4. Im not vegan, but I wont drink factory-farmed milk.

Answer 8

Being hooked up to a machine and forced to breed causes no pain? Alriiiiight.

Answer 9

vegans strictly dont use products obtained from animals, in their opinion, cows shouldnt be farmed

Answer 10

Well you see large companies don't really care about the animals well been. They only care about their wallets... Those cows are tortured and they are put through lots of pain and stress unlike cows that live on farms that get milked for person use. Youtube it, you will be discusted.

Answer 11

Um, ask any woman who's breast-fed an infant.  Engorgement is painful.  That pain is relieved when a woman feeds her infant.

Yeah, those cows are in pain.

Maybe if they were left the h**l alone and allowed to suckle their young and wean them AT THEIR OWN DISCRETION they wouldn't be in so much pain, hmmm?