I got in the milk argument today.
Dairy cows often have better lives than cattle destined for slaughter. The picturesque scene of cows eating green grass under a bright blue Californian sun is a myth, but they do at least get fed more naturally than feedlot cattle, and get to spend more time being bovines. I am always going to be in favor of situations that allow a production animal to live a life that allows for all of their natural behaviors. Dairy cows come closer to this ideal than feedlot cattle – which I have always been against. In my animal science studies at University of California Davis I got to spend several months at the dairy barn learning the ins and outs of the milk production process. It was interesting. And it was fun. And it was disturbing. Humans are addicted to their milk, but very few have any idea of how it is processed before it gets into that carton they pull off their superstore shelf.
I don't drink milk. If I could say I don't drink milk purely on principle, I would, but the honest truth is that I was allergic to milk as a child. I would break out in a rash every time I ate dairy products and so I avoided dairy products. Milk is something that you have to acquire a taste for – as a child who never drank milk, the taste of dairy products like milk and ice cream are repulsive to me. I do like cheese, though my tastes run towards the well-aged salty cheeses or sheep and goat milk cheeses. Ironically I could eat cheese as a child because it has already been partially digested by the bacteria and I reacted less to it. I have a strong suspicion that it wasn't the milk itself I was allergic to, but the chemicals and additives put in milk to pasteurize and clean it. Because I grew up in such an organic home-grown type of household my digestive system cannot tolerate foreign chemicals and hormones in my food. Feedlot meat makes me ill. But I can eat a huge beef hamburger of high-quality grass-fed free-range meat and feet great. It disturbs me that people not only acquire a taste for these artificial additives to their milk and meat, but that they sometimes prefer it. Like MSG (something else that makes me sick), to some people it just tastes good, even though it is an awful thing to put in your body.
When it comes to dairy milk I am baffled by people's need to drink it. There is no proof that it helps children grow faster or stronger (I have never broken a bone), and quite a bit of proof that milk is not easily digested or used by the human body. Could people be confusing the importance of a child getting his mother's milk with continuing to drink milk through childhood?
Some that are against the use of dairy cows will also mention that their calves often go to slaughter (veal is a popular option). Sometimes the female calves are kept as replacements on a dairy farm of course, but by in large this is true. I always loved spending time with the calves at the dairy barn. Had I known that they were going to meat, but in the meantime they would get to live as bovines should with room to move and ruminate and be free from chemicals I would not have been sad at their parting. The knowledge that they might be put into a feedlot type setting disgusted me. Luckily most of the UCD calves were kept in fields on the periphery of the university where they could live decent bovine lives until slaughtered. No animal should have to live in conditions like those found in a feedlot. And I certainly don't want to eat an animal that has lived in those conditions!
My general argument is this: eat what you will, but know where it comes from. Know that your food choices may be polluting the environment and your body. Know that your choices contribute to the suffering of another sentient being. If you know where it comes from and it is someplace like a feedlot or an industrialized dairy farm, then ask yourself why it's okay to make these animals suffer so that you can have a luxury (we don't need beef or milk).
And if you don't care because you feel that animals are less important than you as a human being, then I recommend you open your eyes. The cattle we eat and the milk we drink comes from beings as emotionally complicated as any human.
Dairy cows often have better lives than cattle destined for slaughter. The picturesque scene of cows eating green grass under a bright blue Californian sun is a myth, but they do at least get fed more naturally than feedlot cattle, and get to spend more time being bovines. I am always going to be in favor of situations that allow a production animal to live a life that allows for all of their natural behaviors. Dairy cows come closer to this ideal than feedlot cattle – which I have always been against. In my animal science studies at University of California Davis I got to spend several months at the dairy barn learning the ins and outs of the milk production process. It was interesting. And it was fun. And it was disturbing. Humans are addicted to their milk, but very few have any idea of how it is processed before it gets into that carton they pull off their superstore shelf.
I don't drink milk. If I could say I don't drink milk purely on principle, I would, but the honest truth is that I was allergic to milk as a child. I would break out in a rash every time I ate dairy products and so I avoided dairy products. Milk is something that you have to acquire a taste for – as a child who never drank milk, the taste of dairy products like milk and ice cream are repulsive to me. I do like cheese, though my tastes run towards the well-aged salty cheeses or sheep and goat milk cheeses. Ironically I could eat cheese as a child because it has already been partially digested by the bacteria and I reacted less to it. I have a strong suspicion that it wasn't the milk itself I was allergic to, but the chemicals and additives put in milk to pasteurize and clean it. Because I grew up in such an organic home-grown type of household my digestive system cannot tolerate foreign chemicals and hormones in my food. Feedlot meat makes me ill. But I can eat a huge beef hamburger of high-quality grass-fed free-range meat and feet great. It disturbs me that people not only acquire a taste for these artificial additives to their milk and meat, but that they sometimes prefer it. Like MSG (something else that makes me sick), to some people it just tastes good, even though it is an awful thing to put in your body.
When it comes to dairy milk I am baffled by people's need to drink it. There is no proof that it helps children grow faster or stronger (I have never broken a bone), and quite a bit of proof that milk is not easily digested or used by the human body. Could people be confusing the importance of a child getting his mother's milk with continuing to drink milk through childhood?
Some that are against the use of dairy cows will also mention that their calves often go to slaughter (veal is a popular option). Sometimes the female calves are kept as replacements on a dairy farm of course, but by in large this is true. I always loved spending time with the calves at the dairy barn. Had I known that they were going to meat, but in the meantime they would get to live as bovines should with room to move and ruminate and be free from chemicals I would not have been sad at their parting. The knowledge that they might be put into a feedlot type setting disgusted me. Luckily most of the UCD calves were kept in fields on the periphery of the university where they could live decent bovine lives until slaughtered. No animal should have to live in conditions like those found in a feedlot. And I certainly don't want to eat an animal that has lived in those conditions!
My general argument is this: eat what you will, but know where it comes from. Know that your food choices may be polluting the environment and your body. Know that your choices contribute to the suffering of another sentient being. If you know where it comes from and it is someplace like a feedlot or an industrialized dairy farm, then ask yourself why it's okay to make these animals suffer so that you can have a luxury (we don't need beef or milk).
And if you don't care because you feel that animals are less important than you as a human being, then I recommend you open your eyes. The cattle we eat and the milk we drink comes from beings as emotionally complicated as any human.
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