Veal calves live their entire lives in crates like these.
Their suffering is a byproduct of the dairy industry.
Photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary
Why go vegan? After all, chickens aren't killed for their eggs and it doesn't hurt cows to give milk. If these animals are treated well, isn't it okay to eat what they produce?
A post this week on the blog embraceyouheart suggested that dairy farms are models of humane treatment. The author Eliz Greene visited a family farm with 800 cows and had this to say:
“I had assumed ‘confined’ cows would be unhappy cows, dirty cows, sad — but I was wrong. Over the hour-long tour, our host constantly talked about ‘cow comfort’ from the different types of bedding to how the feed was presented. They invest in various types of fans and misters to keep them cool—they even had
motion sensitive back scratching machines for the
cows. […] this farm was all about making the cows happy.”
The author admits that she needs to learn more and needs to ask more questions. Here are some of the questions I think she might have asked the farmers:
• Do these cows ever go outside and graze in pastures? Or do they spend their entire lives in stalls?
• Dairy cows give birth at least once a year (they couldn’t produce milk otherwise); how long are they allowed to nurse their calves on this farm? (On most dairy farms, it isn’t more than a day or two, causing great distress to both the cow and calf)
• What happens to the male calves? On most dairy farms they are taken away from their mothers when they are just days old and sold at auction—for immediate slaughter for leather or perhaps to spend the next three months crammed into veal pens.
• When the cows no longer can produce adequate milk, they are sent to slaughter. How many days away from the slaughter house are they? Some cows--and other animals sent to slaughter--spend as many as three days traveling without food, water or protection from the elements.
The fact is, no matter how benign a farm might look at first glance, there is plenty of cruelty behind the scenes. That fact was made especially clear yesterday when Mercy For Animals released a video from an undercover investigation of the Hy-Line Egg Hatchery. They didn’t find anything that was especially unusual for hatcheries. It was just business as usual as workers tossed tens of thousands of male chicks (who have no particular value in egg production) into grinders while they were still alive. This practice—along with the debeaking shown in the film—is standard in hatcheries, including those that supply chicks to cage-free farms.
No matter where your milk and eggs come from, there is cruelty in the background. And there is never any reason to support it. We don’t need these foods in order to meet nutrient needs; it’s easy to plan a well-balanced vegan diet. Check my examiner column from Monday for some guidelines on healthful ethical eating.
| Check out my blog The Vegan Dietitian to learn more about vegan diet and lifestyle! |
Comments
good article. people deserve to know the truth about eggs and dairy. thanks ginny :).
This article is baloney. Dairy cows are treated very well. They are called "beasts of burden" for a reason. Drink milk, eat cheese and ice cream. They are all tasty and good for you!
Never and always are very strong words. My family agrees that factory farming is cruel and unnecessary - that's why we hand-raise our animals, with total access to the outdoors and their own social groups. Our hens are so happy people come from miles away to buy our eggs; we slaughter our sheep humanely, by our own hand, when they are not "days old," but have lived nearly a year. Death and cruelty are not the same thing. Not every egg comes with a tragic backstory.
I respect the choice to go vegan; but I would ask that you broaden your horizons before painting us all with a single brush. Plenty of people in the PNW are creating good lives for animals that would not exist otherwise. Anyone who cares to see the living conditions of our animals can visit us on the Harvest Celebration Tour Sept 26th.
"we slaughter our sheep humanely"
How is killing something, whether by lethal injection or axe, "humane"? Apply this line of thinking to humans. Is it humane to kill another person if the method is less barbaric? If meat was necessary for our survival, I'd agree with you, but it is merely something to be had because people like the taste. To kill or have someone else kill to satisfy a pleasure is hardly humane.
"Plenty of people in the PNW are creating good lives for animals that would not exist otherwise."
I fail to see how it would hurt anyone if these animals did not exist. The environment would be better off, as would human health and ensuing medical costs.
Dairy products are not only bad for the cows but also bad for your health. Please read this eye-opening report which has a foreword by Professor T. Colin Campbell and Professor Jane Plant CBE: The health consequences of consuming cow’s milk - ttp://www.scribd.com/doc/14427096
Good post but painting with a pretty broad brush.
My chickens who give us the most beautiful eggs I have ever seen have a wonderful life.
They are literally loved by my whole family and taken care of like beloved pets.
I think you need differentiate between factory farming or production farming and backyard farming. Two different animals.
Keep up the good work.
I don't mean to say that animals raised on small farms suffer as much as those on factory farms. There is obviously a huge difference. However, even under the best of circumstances, there is bound to be some cruelty in the background. If hens are rescued, given a happy life in your backyard, and then allowed to live to a ripe old age even after they no longer produce eggs--well, it would be hard to find any cruelty in that situation. But if the chicks come from a hatchery, then of course, the male chicks were very probably killed. And bringing animals into the world for the express purpose of killing them--when we have absolutely no nutritional reason to do so--I don't know, it's hard for me to see that as justified no matter how painless the death might be. So yes, the small farms described here are better; but vegan is better yet. I appreciate your comments and hearing your perspectives, though.
Seattle Special Needs Kids Examiner wrote: "They are literally loved by my whole family and taken care of like beloved pets."
Sorry, but you don't KILL those you love.
Good column Ginny; you don't need to backpedal or justify your position to anyone. You're just telling the truth.
I don't want to enter the argument over ideology such as living vegan. However, in as much as the majority of the world is NOT vegan and farm production is a reality, I think we need to commend the dairy farmers who work so hard to provide cow comfort and address all there needs to the best of their ability. It is at least a step in a positive direction. Those of you who are dedicating your energy to the protection of farm animals are sadly mistaken in assuming that cows on "factory farms" are worse off than those on small family farms. Conditions are horrible on some of our family farms as many cannot afford to purchase adequate feed. The most abused dairy animals I have seen are on the "Organic" farms where they are on pasture. Someone needs to do an undercover video of some of Oregon's organic dairies with their starving cows as well as in Tillamook county. As long as dairies exist we need to put energy into enforcable animal welfare standards.
I am in agreement with Liz Green. I will attempt to answer a few of your questions. No, these cows probably don't see a pasture but it might surprise to know they probably don't care. They are comfortable and well fed and much better off than cows on pasture without adequate balanced nutrition (ie starving!) and without adequate shelter from weather. Given the choice even pastured cows prefer to go inside for shelter. Calves are removed from their mothers as soon after birth as possible to protect them from potentially fatal pathogens found in the mother's feces. They are immediately fed clean, high quality colostrum milked from mama to suppport their immune system fight infections. Many calves are not strong enough or savvy enough to find a teat in a timely fashion. If they don't get that colostrum within a few hours of birth they lose the ability to absorb the antibodies and will succomb to any disease they are exposed to. I urge you to educate yourself on farm practices.
I cannot defend in any way what happens to bull calves. I can assure you that it is a really stressful, troubling problem for many dairymen, one for which there is no good solution. I also cannot defend slaughter issues. However, as long as we continue to have food production animals we need to focus on constructive measures to assure proper care and need to seek better solutions to bull calves, cull cows etc. But please don't lump dairy farm practices in the same category as chicken farm practices. There is little or no justification for anything on a factory chicken farm. The majority of dairy farmers do consider welfare issues. We need to focus and pressure for change on the minority who do not. They should not be allowed to continue in business. We need legislative change.
thank you, have been recently trying to become vegan and this helped a lot, i previously had no idea- or more didn't think about it as i should about the way cows are treated.
so thanks very much!!
csg, that's great that you are working on going vegan. I think a lot of people don't understand that eating ethically means giving up *all* animal products. It's a learning process for all of us! I'm glad you're taking those first steps and hope you will keep going.
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