I wasn't to be a vegetarian but I wanted to know..?

Question

if the animals are harmed when we get milk and eggs?

Answer 1

Its sad to say it, but typically they are harmed. If you are concerned about the welfare of the animal, you might want to consider buying milk and eggs from a local farm.

Locals farmers have lower yields so that sometimes prevents them from "factory farming" the animals. I have gathered my own eggs before and milk my own cows. Those chickens and cows had an awesome life. But again, the owners saw their animals as living things instead of food producing objects. And with local farmers, you can see the living conditions they are in.

Answer 2

Milk and eggs are usually much worse than meat.

The animals are kept in worse conditions for a longer amount of time. After the animals have had most of the life sucked out of them from all of the abuse, they STILL have to go through everything that a meat-animal goes through.

If you actually want to understand what I'm talking about, watch this:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=ea...

http://meat.org

http://www.farmsanctuary.org/issues/fact...

http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan

Answer 3

Yes.  Animals on factory farms are treated like meat, milk, and egg machines. Chickens have their sensitive beaks seared off with a hot blade, and male cattle and pigs are castrated without any painkillers. All farmed chickens, turkeys, and pigs spend their brief lives in dark and crowded warehouses, many of them so cramped that they can't even turn around or spread a single wing. They are mired in their own waste, and the stench of ammonia fills the air. Animals raised for food are bred and drugged to grow as large as possible as quickly as possible—many are so heavy that they become crippled under their own weight and die within inches of their water supply.

Animals on factory farms do not see the sun or get a breath of fresh air until they are prodded and crammed onto trucks for a nightmarish ride to the slaughterhouse, often through weather extremes and always without food or water.

Dairy cows are forced to go through pregnancy after pregnancy in order to keep her milk supply running.  After she gives birth, her baby is taken away immediately and s/he is then chained to the floor and fed nothing but liquids.

If you drink milk, you are slaughtering baby cows.

By the way I MUST correct the person who recommended "free-range" and "organic" dairy.  There is no such thing as cruelty-free dairy.  There is no inspection system for companies that label their eggs “free-range.”

The popular myth that “free-range” egg-laying hens enjoy fresh grass, bask in the sunlight, scratch the earth, sit on their nests, and engage in other natural habits is often just that: a myth. In many commercial “free-range” egg farms, hens are crowded inside windowless sheds with little more than a single, narrow exit leading to an enclosure, too small to accommodate all of the birds at once.

Both battery cage and “free-range” egg hatcheries kill all male chicks shortly after birth. Since male chicks cannot lay eggs and are different breeds than those chickens raised for meat, they are of no use to the egg industry. Standard killing methods, even among “free-range” producers, include grinding male chicks alive or throwing them into trash bags and leaving them to suffocate.

Whether kept in sheds or cages, laying hens—who can naturally live more than ten years—are considered “spent” when they are just one or two years old and their productivity wanes. Rather than being retired, “free-range” hens are slaughtered to make room for another shed of birds.

With no federal regulations overseeing the use of animal welfare claims on egg cartons, misleading or exaggerated claims are rampant. Consumers may be deceived by phrases such as “animal-friendly” or “naturally-raised,” which can be found on cartons of eggs from caged hens.

Answer 4

I am not qualified to debate this question.  

However, I can tell you that I live in Iowa and I have several friends and relatives with turkey and hog farms.  While the animals are not galloping through beautiful prairies, they are well fed and content. The turkey farms are full of activity and noise. I also know that the animal science departments at Iowa universities are on the cutting edge, and that they promote respect to their future graduates.  Ultimately, vegetarianism will be your decision.  You shouldn't let your self be swayed by either side....read sources that you trust and, if possible, visit a local dairy farm.  Talk to the people who are producing what you are consuming.  

good luck,

Daisy

Answer 5

okay okay its not as bad as you're all making it sound in some situations.  does that all happen?  yes.  but does it happen everywhere?  no.

Answer 6

pheonix is the most awesome person ive met so far! 10 pts for her!

Answer 7

Well,the cow who's calf is taken away from her,minutes after birth so it cant suckle to make the milk she produces available for humans.suffers horribly.

I have seen and heard the heart breaking cries of a cow calling its calf,for days on end .not understanding why her calf is gone.

It will haunt me to the grave.

We wouldn't do that to humans,so why are the animals o.k to do it too?

Cos,we think we are superior that's why.

Chickens lay eggs,and if the cockerel hasn't been with her the eggs aren't fertilised therefore cant become chicks.

I never asked a chicken if it hurt pushing an egg out,but as a mum it hurts to push babies out believe me. ouch!!!.lol

Answer 8

Dairy Cows

--------------------------------------...

“Mrs. DeBoer said she had never milked a cow by hand, and never expected to. In the factory that is her barn, the employees, almost entirely Latino, manage the machinery. It’s just a factory is what it is,’ she said. If the cows don’t produce milk, they go to beef".

-Urban Sprawl Benefits Dairies in California, The New 4 York Times, 10/22/99

Dairy Cows From 1940 to 2004, average per-cow milk production rose from 2.3 to 9.5 tons per year; some cows have surpassed 30 tons, beyond ethical & emotional calculation. High milk production often causes udder breakdown, leading to early slaughter. It is unprofitable to keep cows alive once their milk production declines. They are usually killed at 5–6 years of age, though their normal life span exceeds 20. Dairy cows are rarely allowed to nurse their young. Many male calves are slaughtered immediately, while others are raised for “special-fed veal”—kept in

individual stalls and chained by the neck on a 2–3 foot tether for 18–20 weeks before being slaughtered.

Egg-Laying Hens

------------------------------------

birds raised for food are factory farmed. Inside the densely populated buildings, enormous amounts of waste accumulate. The resulting ammonia levels commonly cause painful burns to the birds’ skin, eyes, and respiratory tracts. To reduce losses from birds pecking each other, farmers cut a third to a half of the beaks off chickens, turkeys, and ducks. The birds suffer severe pain for weeks. Some, unable to eat afterwards, starve and die. Egg-Laying Hens Packed in cages (typically less than half a square foot of floor space per bird), hens can become immobilized and die of asphyxiation or dehydration. Decomposing corpses are found in cages with live birds. By the time hens are sent to slaughter for low production, their skeletons are so fragile that many suffer broken bones during catching, transport, or shackling.

Conclusion

--------------------------------------...

For modern animal agriculture, the less the consumer knows about what’s happening before the carcasses/by-product hits the plate, the better.

Answer 9

for the most part yes

but im a vegetarian and i eat dairy and eggs

but i get my dairy from lacal farms (cauz i know there the cows are treated nicely)

and i buy cage free eggs (the chickens are allowed to rum around freely)

its wrong the way big buissnesses treat their animals

if you go on PETA2.com you can see what actually happens to all animals in the food and dairy department

hope this helps

Answer 10

This depends on what kind of milk and eggs you buy. If you buy "cage-free", "organic", and the farm they come from states that they are not a factory, the animals there have the least chance of being harmed, compared to factory farms, where animals are caged and are forced to give the most milk and eggs they can produce per day.

Bottom line?

Most animals get hurt.

Answer 11

Yes they are harmed. Milk contributes to unnecessary death and suffering. Just like humans cows only lactate a few months after birth. For cows to produce a constant supply of milk they must be continually artificially inseminated and give birth. Their babies are taken away from them soon after they are born. If they are male they will be trapped in veal crates, fed an anaemic diet and confined in darkness and eventually killed. If they are female they will go on to also be dairy cows (or more correctly milk machines). This separation causes distress to both mother and calf. Drinking milk supports the veal industry. Cows are also pumped with hormones and antibiotics to increase milk production. This often leads to mastitius, a painful infection of the udders. Constant milk production leaches calcium from cow's bones leaving them eventually lame or crippled. Milk is produced to nourish calves, not human. We are essentially stealing nutrients from baby animals.

Dairy production places massive environmental stresses on the planet. Each dairy cow produces 28,000L of waste water per cow per year. Cows produce between 250 to 500L of methane per cow per day.

Egg laying hens are tortured, debeaked, force moulted, crammed with between 4 and 12 other birds, stacked in crates, thrown, covered in one another’s excrement, suffer from painful cuts and lacerations due to sharp wire cages, male chicks are killed and considered an industry waste product, they have less than an A4 piece of paper in which to live, they never see the light of day, and are never allowed to exhibit natural behaviour. Also all the male chicks in hatcheries are automatically killed soon after hatching. They are thrown in the garbage, blended alive or suffocated. Go to the Free Betty website to see the *true* cost of batter eggs. http://www.freebetty.com/cage_eggs.php