mothy wrote:
Having a vegan diet means trying to minimise suffering. Vegetariansim does't come as close to the minimising of suffering. Milk was meant for the calf, we are the only mature species thet drink milk apart from cats.
Vegetarianism goes a long way ... and Veganism goes further.
Anyways, what is wrong with my picture? The does (
NOT NANNIES!!) walk around in the fields, eat browse and grass and get a grain supplement when they come up to be milked.
Contrast this, of course, with a cow CAFO that injects their animals with all manner of unhealthy drugs, and keeps them confined and milks them, I can see your concern and where you are coming from.
it is not only the health of humans that one is concerned with, but also the well being and ualty of life of the farm animal. Some constitutions need to eat meat .... sometimes.
mothy wrote:
There is scientific proof that a bereavement occurs between the mother cow and calf when they are separated then the frightened calf is put in a crate and fed a milk substitute.
That is veal extremism. Nowadays, veal simply means "young calf meat" and has been shown to be extremely good for people, particularly the ill. And because it is a calf, it will not have been put in a CAFO. It may have been dry lotted, however, but that is not a concern provided the drylot is large enough.
?????? Young calfs are called veal in the US and are an economic resource. That is the bottom line really, or at least one of them. It's a strange practice when you look at it full on, when you see it for what it is, simply.
mothy wrote:
In the egg laying industry the male chicks are either gassed or fed live into a mincing machine.
I wouldn't doubt that. That is awful, and wasteful. Of course the male egg-layers are perfectly useless, anyways. Contrast this with my operation where the chickens free range and eat bugs 80% of the time.
What do you do with the male chicks? Especially since the males are useless? "The male egg-layers are pefectly useless". Of course they are and yet they are still animals. Or are they?
mothy wrote:
Sure they wouldn't exist but that which never existed could never have suffered.
In that case, killing the chicks is humane, right? That way it can't exist to be harmed. Animals were put here to provide us with sustainance. There is no getting around that,
It is necessary to kill animals for food sometimes, but expecting animal protein as THE source of protein is simply wrong as there is so much protein around and the eating of animals as a source of protein is a cultural belief, habit, and tradition.
mothy wrote:
Indeed it would be sad to see green fields void of sheep and cattle but if that meant no intensive farming and no slaughterhouses that would be fine by me.
Why do the two have to exist together for either to survive? The answer is they don't. If you buy pasture-based meats, you are helping the environment, farmers, and knocking a blow on the CAFO practices. Also, I believe your comments about "intensive farming" are misdirected. Pastures can be intensively managed as well.
Small farms are inherently more humane for the animals bred upon them. CAFO operations are in existance, now. They are here because the population believes they are necesary. They ARE necessary if one wants and expects meat at every turn. As if the main and only source of protein is from animals. This simply is not true. We have CAFO's because of a false belief. This false belief is fed by the industry itself.
Another thing is animal welfare vs. animal rights. I'm all for animal welfare, but not rights. They have none. Instead, humans are obligated to be good stewards and make decisions that benefit the farmer. Do you know any local farmers? You should buy food from them.
I agree, but then the discussion of what makes good stewards ensues. if we are obligated to be good stewards, why do CAFO's exist? They exist because they have advocated well for the need of animal protein when in fact protein is everywhere. There is no danger of being protein deficient without animal protein. Apparantly, we can justify inhumane practices as stewardship. So what, really, is stewardship? I don't think CAFO's are an example, yet they proliferate.