Vegetarians if you care about hurting animals..?

Question

Then why do you support the dairy trade?

..which slaughters the Babies of cows so they can strap them up to machines and steal their milk for the rest of their lives.

I think causing this long term pain and slavery is far less ethical than causing the quick death of an animal.

Answer 1

Wow. I just got sad thinking about that. Poor little cow/calf's =(

Anyway I have no idea why they do that but It's their choice not mine or yours. I'm probably gonna get allot of thumbs down for this though.

By the way I'm a Vegan =)

Answer 2

I don't get how vegetarians won't eat meat or chicken, but they eat fish.

I mean, hello?!

Answer 3

I am a vegetarian and I shoot gophers all the time. So the answer is that we don't all.

Answer 4

I hope that you realize that you can't draw attention to yourself on an anonymous forum and expect people to take you seriously. People are not going to do what someone tells them to when they know that they don't want to hear anything other than "OMG, you are so right. I'm never eating dairy again."

If you want to provide information to a person that has asked a question about being vegan, you would have a place in sharing whatever sources that you have. However, getting up on a virtual soapbox and attracting the attention of anyone and everyone does nothing but perpetuate the preachy-vegan-stereotype and turn people off from the whole scene or whatever you may call it.

If you truly want to influence people in positive ways, please read further.

http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy

If you keep trying to sow guilt, you will reap nothing but resentment.

Answer 5

Not all vegetarians consume dairy.

Answer 6

Well I am a vegan, when I was a vegetarian though or an animal eater for that matter I had no idea the suffering involved, but now I do.

Answer 7

The cows are sent to the slaughterhouse as well. The calves are grown as veal and then killed after a few weeks, too. It's really no different to eating meat.

Vegetarianism is useful as a stepping stone to veganism, I think. It's just a shame so many vegetarians are not aware of these things and that veganism is out there and it's healthy.

Answer 8

umm tons of vegetarinas know that and thats why they dont drink it!!!! no all of them drink milk

Answer 9

Vegetarianism is a positive step away from meat eating. It's reduces the amount one is contributing to livestock agriculture.

Veganism is another positive step beyond that.

People don't respond well to antagonism or confrontation. Trying to force people to give up meat, or go from vegetarian to vegan tends to just provoke resistance. People should be encouraged to do so, but must take it in their own time.

We cannot live lives completely free of harm. What we can do as individuals is seek to minimize the harm we do to animals and the environment as much as we reasonably can.

Answer 10

Some of them don't.  Vegans, for instance...

Answer 11

I am a vegetarian and i DONT support things like that. I became a vegetarian because my father buys my 4-H meat and i CANT eat something ive cared for and raised. I dont drink milk or have anything to do with dairy products.

:-{

Answer 12

I'm not techinally vegetarian.

I don't eat meat or dairy or eggs.

I do it for me, not the animals.

You're right, I think standard vegetarians are only half-way-ers.  Kinda cheatin.  You know, I heard the person who gave veganism it's name pulled together the word "vegetarian," from beginning (veg) to end (an), cause it pulls the concept all the way through.

Answer 13

If you think that's the dairy industry in a nutshell then you are insane.  Where did you get that point of view?  One biased article from peta?  No one straps cows to machines, on planet earth anyways.  People don't just slaughter baby calves either.  A veal calf is harvested at around 300 lbs.  That's hardly teeny tiny.  

The cows are not in pain.  I work with them every day.  They are perfectly content as long as the feeder and milker are on time.  They get really mad if you're late on that.  But I guess you wouldn't know.  Have you ever even been on a farm?  Can you even read a cow's body language to tell if she is upset?  I doubt it.  You just assume that since cows live in barns with nice bedded stalls and fans and sprinkler systems and all the food they can eat that they are somehow abused and pitiful??  What do you know?

If you're going to be a vegan or vegetarian then do it for YOU.  Because you feel you are healthier.  Do not insult the 2% of the population who actually cares for the animals and meets their everyday needs.  

Answer 14

maybe hurting animals is not the reason they went vegetarian.

could be for health reasons or environmental.

Answer 15

Well you know what, at least they are trying to cut down on animal cruelty. If dairy hadn't been made such "the norm" people would be able to give it up easier. I give props to vegetarians even though some consume dairy and eggs! They are doing more for animals then you so why does this matter to you?

Answer 16

I am vegetarian....

my husband and I were both raised on farms in the midwest...

farmers take care of their animals back then...

your comment makes me wonder if you have ever set foot on a farm or even have a first hand view of that world....

Answer 17

If the ONE reason you want to become a vegetarian is that you don't want animals to SUFFER (which I hope most of us don`t want to happen, vegetarians or not....), find a local farm near you that doesn`t strap cows onto machines. Costs more, yes - but there you go, it`s a price you should be willing to pay.

Even on more industrialised farms though, cows are not being kept "strapped onto machines" but milked once, sometimes twice a day.

And "baby cows", by the way, aren`t necessarily slaughtered for you to be able to have a glass of milk. Your average cow has enough milk to feed two, sometimes three calves; this is why farmers often buy additional calves off other farms. That means, two dairy cows give milk, their calves grow up with a substitute mum. Call it adoption.

Of course you could argue about whether that is ethically "correct" or not -  I`d say it`s definitely more ethical than slaughtering calves.

Still,  if slaughtering calves is the done thing in your country or region, I pity you. Ever thought about moving somewhere else?