Would a vegan drink milk if.....?!
I was watching 'how it's made' on the discovery channel the other day and they showed a nearly fully automated milk farm that was very interesting.
Basically the cows are free to do whatever they want, they eat when they want and they even half a back massager that they activate by stepping on a certain spot. A spinning soft brush thing comes down and massages their back.
When they want to be milked they know where the milking machine is, they step on a platform and computer uses lasers to guide the pumps onto the teets. The whole process is about comfort and cows are never forced to give their milk. In fact, they WANT to be milked because it's uncomfortable like having to go to the bathroom.
If all the milk in the world was made this way would a vegan change their views on drinking milk?
Answers: This question is more aimed at vegans who feel drinking milk is cruel and not at people who simply can't drink milk or don't want to for health reasons.
I was watching 'how it's made' on the discovery channel the other day and they showed a nearly fully automated milk farm that was very interesting.
Basically the cows are free to do whatever they want, they eat when they want and they even half a back massager that they activate by stepping on a certain spot. A spinning soft brush thing comes down and massages their back.
When they want to be milked they know where the milking machine is, they step on a platform and computer uses lasers to guide the pumps onto the teets. The whole process is about comfort and cows are never forced to give their milk. In fact, they WANT to be milked because it's uncomfortable like having to go to the bathroom.
If all the milk in the world was made this way would a vegan change their views on drinking milk?
Still, what do they do with the male calves? A cow cannot give milk if she is not pregnant at least once, and frequently they are impregnated more than once. Do they just raise and support the male calves from infancy until death (as they don't serve a purpose on a dairy farm?) Most likely they are used for veal.
Also, human beings do not NEED milk. What other animal needs breast milk of ANY kind (especially that of another mammal's!) past early childhood? Most people (roughly 75%) don't even have the enzyme to digest lactose in milk past the age of 5 - biologically we are supposed to be weaned, period, after the age of 5. Milk is not necessary, biologically or otherwise.
Personally I find milk a bit gross, it is breast milk from another animal. I am a breast feeding mother as I write this and it has further changed how I see breast milk and what it is for. I have an innate understanding now that it is to nourish MY own children and not someone else's, not to mention hundreds of random other people throughout my life.
It is also not natural to keep making an animal breast feed past the time it's child is weaned. I know that it feels uncomfortable to go for a while without feeding a baby (it does feel uncomfortable, even painful). Still, it's only natural to eventually STOP producing milk.
I'd go crazy if I had to breast feed until the day I became too old to be of use (like most cows are) and slaughtered. It isn't like there's some happy fantasy retirement home for cows that are just too old to make breast milk, there isn't some Happy Grandma Cow Land. They get slaughtered, period, once they are no longer profitable.
Who are we to decide how we should ration and consume another animal's breast milk, which is there specifically to feed their own children? Cows do not need to be milked, just like human breastfeeding mothers, if their child weans, the breasts hurt and are tender and might even get infected for a while (human mothers get mastitis too, BELIEVE me) - but it goes AWAY. It's not necessary.
i like this question..
:)
but not a vegan..sorry
Yes, this is a nicer way of 'farming' dairy - but the only reason the cows are lactating milk is because they have recently diven birth to a calve which has been removed from them at a digustingly early age, to either become veal (if male), breeding machines (if female), or shot (if surplus)....all so they can garner the cows' milk. And the only reason they keep producing it is because the machines keep 'suckoing' it, so the body still thinks it is nourishing that calf it lost weeks or even months, before.
*Sigh*
What is it with you people? WHY do you care? Don't you have anything better to ask?
Okay, I don't drink milk. And even IF the cows were treated good I STILL woulden't. It's an animal product. Vegans don't consume animal products. Torture is just PART of the reason.
And, no. Cow milk is for cow offspring, not people.
your kidding right? a cow back massager? lol....but if its true i like it (im not a vegan)......i think animals should be treated well when handled, even when they are going to be killed for meat.
That's a mighty thoughtful approach to dairy farming, and a very respectful way to ask the question. People who actually have hands-on experience with cows have told me the mothers will produce enough milk for a full set of offspring, even if only one calf is born. So they need the relief and will actually get pissy if nobody comes to milk them.
It's a good thing that ''green eyes, peace, and love'' tells these things about herself in her name, since none of these traits is evident in her response. Some folks simply won't stoop to converse with anyone who disagrees with them....
wow, was this by any chance a show that puts nice sugary coating on the truth? Now excuse me if i am being 'snotty' but your the one accusing vegans of being morons.
Try doing more research...sir. Because quite frankly you do not know anything. It's quite interesting how you think you know all about this even though you watched one show.
Most all farms abuse their cows, and milk them over and over, excessively, and I saw a documentary showing their utters swollen. Then, at the endo fthe vows life she is sent to a slaughter house or the good ol' rodeo.
I'm sure that that episode featured ONE milk farm. Not all of them are ran that way.
Their babies are taken from them so that humans can have their milk.
How would you feel if every time you had a baby, someone took it away from you?
And the ones that aren't raised to make milk, are taken and slaughtered for the veal industry.
They often develop bladder infections...and are in constant pain.
When they can't produce milk anymore, they taken and slaughtered.
I personally would never drink milk, even if I saw the milk come out of the cow myself, completely cruelty free, and sterilized before my very eyes. Why? Simply because cows milk is for baby cows, not humans.
no thats gay