Vegans: Would you eat/drink dairy if you knew it came from a humane source?

Question

How about if you had a nice farmer down the road that hand milked her pasture cows-- totally humane, painless-- and didn't just kill off their male calves for veal? Would you like to have dairy in that case?

Answer 1

I was a vegan in USA for the humane reasons.  But since living overseas and seeing how well the animals are treated, I stopped being a vegan.  God put the animals on Earth to benefit man, not for man to abuse them.  Animals are not only for consumption by humans.  But,  our ancestors used the animals for protection, food, and drink.  I believe it is the all natural way, much more natural than a vegan lifestyle with added supplements.

Answer 2

This is only the personal opinion of one vegan but here goes.

In the situation you describe: no.

I would be supporting a farmer who views the animals as his/her property, no matter how humanely he treats them. Also, if the male calf hasn't been killed then it would need the milk, I don't think it would be right to take it.

If I was looking after a rescued cow, whose calf had died: no.

Firstly, I wouldn't drink the milk of a human woman whose baby had died, so why would I drink a cows milk.

Second, dairy-free is a much healthier way to live (I gave up dairy for health reasons even before I became vegan).

Finally (and most importantly), even if a situation in which I believe it is not unethical to eat animal products, I still wouldn't.

Why? because being vegan is very important to me. Sure I am living my life in a way that is consistent with my own ethics... but my veganism is also bigger than just me. Being vegan is my own personal political statement which says "humans can live happy, healthy, active lives without relying on animal products". If I consumed/used animal products, even "ethically sourced" ones, I would feel as if I was denying the truth of this statement.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 3

The only reason I am vegan is because of the way the animals are treated. So, if I could be sure the cows were well cared for then if it were possible I would have dairy.

I will also eat eggs bought from our local pet shop because the hens are very well cared for and it is more of a hobby for the person than to actually make money.

It comes down to if you would feel right about it. If by your your standards they are well cared for, go for it!

Answer 4

No, I wouldn't.

I do, however, have a friend who will eat eggs and honey if it comes from a humane source.

Answer 5

No, I wouldn't for three reasons:

1- if the farmer uses hormones to keep his cows producing, i would not partake. i think growth and reproductive cow hormones have a bad effect on my body and health.

2- i find it incredibly disturbing that humans take milk from another species and continue to drink it long after our initial growth stage. gross!

3- dairy products have too much fat and cholesterol for my taste.

Answer 6

Vegans, by definition, don't eat or use any animal byproducts. If they drank milk, even human, that would make them a lacto vegetarian.  

Answer 7

In that situation you probably wouldn't get any milk because hand milking is very limited. Everybody drinks milk and there wouldn't be enough to go round. You ain't going to get much milk. I used to hand milk as a teenager.

If a farmer didn't cull out his male calves, what would he do with them. After a few months of age they would have bull tendancies. Once they are fully grown they become a dangerous animal. It's a joke to suggest you just put them out to pasture. You can't put two bulls anywhere near each other. Apart from that, to handle a bull takes a lot of experience.

Edit; Someone has made a suggestion that cows only live until they are 4 years of age. That simply isn't true. It takes a good two years before they are in calf. A dairy cow in her prime is about 8 - 10 years. There is a lot of disinformation on here about farming. Vegans have some good points but they overdo their arguments.

Answer 8

If the cows weren't intensely farmed they'd have sod all milk left to give to humans. Also, for it to be truly 'humane', the cows would live their natural lives (up to around 25 years) instead of being killed at 4, that'd put a huge drain on the farmer's profits making it virtually impossible to make a living from this. Also, I can't see the cows having calves every single year without forced breeding. If they miraculously had a calf every year, what would we do with all the babies? Bulls can be ferocious, imagine them piling up in a field together!!

If this was actually possible, I'd say no. A good question is 'would you do the same to a human?' The answer would be no - the milk is hers to do what she wishes with. Her body belongs to her and it isn't for anyone else to decide that she should be pulled around. Unless you have informed consent then it just isn't right. On the scale of cruelty from 1 to 10 it would be 1, but it doesn't make it justified still. It is against the cow's rights to be objectified like that. She has her own purposes in life, not just purposes imposed on her by humans. I'd leave her milk and her body alone.

Also, cow's milk protein is the most potent carcinogen exposed to man on a day to day basis. It's horrendously cancerous. There's nothing in milk you can't get from plants, so I'd stick with my healthy diet.

Answer 9

No, because that scenario doesn't exist.  Cows have to give birth to produce milk and the milk they make is FOR THEIR INFANT.  For that "nice farmer" to provide milk for humans, he's taking it from those babies.  And what exactly is he doing with them if he's not selling them to the veal crates?  Raising them, feeding them (for 20+ years?!?) providing them veterinary care and just letting them live out their lives?  Of course not, to keep his cows producing, there'd be a calf every year for every milker.  He'd rapidly end up with a pasture full of economically unviable bulls and the price of his milk would have to be outrageous to cover their costs.  This is WHY humane milk doesn't exist and why factory dairies do.

Not to mention that milk is not food for people.  We are mammals; we are designed to drink mother's milk in infancy and then lose our ability to digest it after weaning.  We have no dietary requirement for the reproductive secretions of another species.  Cow's milk is designed to double the weight of a calf in the first 40 day of life and grow an animal that will end up at half a ton.  Do you really think that is an appropriate food for already-grown humans?

Answer 10

nope.  

Answer 11

I am lactose intolerant.

That is why I am following a vegan diet, rather than a vegetarian one.

So NO is the answer to your question.

.

Answer 12

no I would not for many reasons one is i'm lactose intolerant and I have been vegan so long it's just the way of life for me =^..^=

Answer 13

Sorry but I don't think a dairy farmer who hand milks her cows and just waits for them to get pregnant and would keep the calf to drink whatever milk will be be produced will have any milk left to sell to anybody much less vegans.

and unless they have other sources of income, they would not last as dairy farmers for long... not a commercially successful one anyway..

Answer 14

oh, i thought you meant a human source.

i dont drink any milk anyways ... bu maybe organic milk won't give me the same reactions that industrial milk does. human milk is probably the only milk that's good for humans, and young ones at that.

visit www.notmilk.com