Vegan ideas?

Question

I eat a vegetarian diet, but I'm not a vegan. I've noticed that certain vegans I have met or talked to over the internet almost look down on me for not cutting out all dairy, eggs, honey, etc and going vegan. I say to each their own, if you want to be vegan and can be that disciplined that's awesome, but it's just not for me. I also don't completely understand the vegan philsophy, dairy for example, cows have to be milked, and they're not injured, that I'm aware of during the milking process, I have known people who live on farms and they have said that the cows know when it's time to be milked and crowd around the fence in anticipation. So why is it that dairy is considered a no no? I'm not being at all critical I am just curious.

Answer 1

I'm not vegan(vegetarian), but my take on it is that maybe they aren't so thrilled about living conditions? From farms I've seen, not many are too spacious leaving less room for the cow.

And I totally agree. I've also seen vegan talk down upon vegetarians, which is pretty lame. If I was vegan, I'd be thrilled if anyone was a vegetarian because that is a big step on its own.

Answer 2

Daily cows aren't meant to me "milked" they produce milk for their young. The new Mothers are torn apart from their babies and drugged up to produce a excessive amount of milk. Naturally a cow will only produce milk for as long as it takes for their young to grow up, but in this case as they are repeatedly milked, they keep producing he milk. Their udders spit out blood and puss which has to be removed from the milk supply. They often suffer broken limbs and cuts, that go untreated.

Milk is the property of the cow, same way that a birds nest is it's own. So even if they "milking" process was harm free, they cows are still prisoners and theft victims. So I suppose the vegan philosophy is that I refuse to fund enslavement, suffering and torture, rather than just murder, which is the vegetarian way.

I read somewhere that a cow, when left to it's self has an life expectancy of 30+ years. A milking cow has one of just 12.

"Cravendall tastes so good, they cows want it back" - No S#it!

Don't get me started on the egg farm industry.

EDIT: I'd like to add that I don't look down on vegetarians or think they are bad people. I was once one. When I meet a vegetarian, I give them a high five.

I just think that when they look deeper at the industry, they will agree making a stand against slaughter and making a stand against cruelty to non-humans go together.

The protest against suffering should over step everything else. This is why I am vegan. I don't see it as being disaplined

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Eat what you want, it's your personal choice. I've been vegan since birth, and my best friend is a vegetarian, many of my friends eat meat. We respect each other's choices and get on with life.

Answer 5

Do human mothers "have to be milked?"  No, of course not, human mothers feed their infants with the milk they produce.  COWS ARE NO DIFFERENT.  What's different is that we pump them full of steroids and hormones to get them to produce several times what nature designed them to, then we take away the infant that is supposed to be drinking the milk.  If cows "have to be milked," it's because we forced them into that situation.

Cows ARE injured in the milking process.  There's a reason why the government has a limit on the amount of blood and pus that can be in milk - it's because most cows have perpetually infected udders due to overproduction and mechanical milking.  Blood and pus are unavoidable.

Tht's great that you know people who have lived on "dairy farms."  But the milk you buy doesn't come from some idyllic farm.  The demand for milk is so great that most commercial milk comes from somewhere that's more like a factory than a farm.  Cows are kept crammed into enormous sheds, they are fed c**p (literally... yes, literally chicken c**p) instead of munching on grass, they are repeatedly artificially inseminated to keep them producing (and even the industry itself calls the process the "rape rack,") their infants are removed within 24 hours of birth so they don't drink up the profits, their male offspring are sold to the veal crates, and when they are used up at a fraction of their normal life span, they are slaughtered for fast food hamburgers.

It's all good that you're a vegetarian.  I don't look down on you for eating dairy and eggs.  I did it for years.  But if you don't believe that animals should be slaughtered for food, you have to at least consider the fact that by drinking milk you are directly supporting the veal industry, and that the cow who provided you that milk WILL be slaughtered for food.  There's no retirement plan for dairy cattle.

Answer 6

thanks for expressing this in such a respectful manner.....many questions like this that are directed toward vegans are not as kind.  

i am not a vegan, but i know that part of the reason is that the dairy industry and the veal industry go hand in hand.  male calves cannot be used for milking (obviously) so they are often the calves used for veal.

there are many other reasons, but honestly that is the only reason i need to make dairy less appetizing.  i'm trying to cut out all dairy, and so far i'm not doing too badly.....cutting out cheese is killing me, though. =P

Answer 7

I'm a vegan and I certainly don't look down on you for not cutting dairy, eggs, honey, etc. from your diet. You're already a vegetarian and you are definitely helping animals, so I give you credit for that, not shame. I don't eat dairy because I believe in some cases cows are being treated very badly, so I don't want to contribute to the dairy industry.