Dairy farms aren’t as Bad as Vegans Suggest.

[Rory17]

Who here has had to deal with people saying dairy farms aren’t as bad as vegans make them out to be?WW

Hello ,
I was watching a video done by a farmer (presumably) about dairy farming. The video portrayed it as all sweetness and light with nice music. One of the commenters said about taking their vegan friend to a farm to show her how the vegan videos had “poisoned her mind”!!!
I once was told by an ex-farmer whom I really got along with that they don’t take the calves away at a day old, they wean them off. Obviously, taking the calves away too young doesn’t happen on every dairy farm here in the UK, but it probably does happen on some. There’s no smoke without fire. You don’t get millions of vegans worldwide - and at least half a million here in the UK - giving up dairy due to concerns about animal cruelty for nothing!!!
Earthling Ed did a video filming at a UK dairy farm. At least one of the calves sucked his hand, probably hoping to get milk out. That calf should have still been suckling from his/her mother...
How would you respond to people who say the videos are fake and dairy farming isn’t cruel?
Thank you .

 

[Lou]

In defense of dairy farms, there are some dairy farms that are much more humane than others. My off the top of the head guess is that its less than 5% of dairy farms.

There are some things that are inherently wrong with dairy farms. Things that can not be fixed. Starting off with that dairy is not essential or necessary for good health which makes their existence themselves unnecessary. So it can be an uphill battle to defend them.

In NE USA, there is something that is called a boutique dairy. These are dairies close enough to a big city that the farmer can drive his product into a city every day. There is even some that just sell milk on the roadside and the customers make the trip. Many cities have enough farmer markets that they can go to a different one every day of the week. And there are some small markets that sell boutique milk. Oh, and milk from boutique dairy goes for at least twice what you would pay in a grocery store. And I know of at least one boutique dairy that runs at a loss as a tax shelter for some rich guys.

Boutique dairies are always small. Usually less than 50 cows. They are usually family-run operations. Long Dream Farms is a good example.

Maybe the quintessential boutique dairy is The Abbey of Regina Laudis. I learned about it from the documentary Cooked. If I remember it correctly each cow is taken care of by one nun.

Small dairy farms are not typical in the US. But the point that I'm making is that small dairy farms are possible. And only on small dairy farms can the cows get better treatment. Not that every small dairy is a shiny example - just that "good" dairy practices are possible.

Cows, pigs, and chickens don't have to be raised on a factory farm. And keep in mind that without the factory farm our supply of meat (and milk and eggs ) would shrink. and the price would go up. I've looked into finding out by how much and can not find any good authoritarian source on the matter. My best guess is that it would be less than 10% of what it is now.

Not even factoring in the better care a cow could receive on a small farm, just the reduction in herd size alone would be a huge win for the cows.

Keep in mind that small dairies are going out of business pretty reguarly. Here in the US, only 2% of all cows live on a small farm. (50 years ago that number was closer to 100%.) And the size of the large farms keeps going up. Most cows live in large herds. Not only are herds of 1000 to 2000 cows common but there are some farms with over 10,000 cows.

 

[LoreD]

I think we have to even look at the small farms as problematic. Even small, boutique operations cannot take care of the animals after they are too old to be productive. These animals are disposed of after they stop producing milk or eggs. The animals are still viewed as disposable machines.

For instance, the pretty pictures of Amish farms with horses plowing the land. The minute the plow horse gets too old, he is sent off to be auctioned and killed. No retirement in the pasture.

People don't question a lot of things, for instance riding stables in resort areas. They ride the cute ponies and don't wonder what happens during the off season. The stables aren't going to feed these animals for 4 or 5 months, when the vacationers are gone. They load them up and send them off to slaughter. At the beginning of the season a fresh load of ponies arrive.

 

[Danielle]

Veal is made from baby cows. Not all farms operate the same way. I don't think it matters how old they are, or how "well" they are treated, they still are raised and slaughtered for human consumption. It's still a cruel practice.