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Thinking of becoming vegan BUT....

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  • 04-05-2011 9:44pm
    #1
    Curlyhatescurls
    Registered Users Posts: 283 ✭✭


    I am a vegetarian and thinking of becoming vegan. However I am finding it very difficult to find any information on the dairy industry in Ireland. All the videos and information I find relates to American or British dairy farming. I live in the countryside and it appears that the cows are treated humanely, out to pasture in the open and then brought in to be milked. Could someone please give me some info or links t info relating the the Irish dairy industry?


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    #2
    spiralbound
    Registered Users Posts: 215 ✭✭spiralbound


    I don't have any peta-style links showcasing cruelty to dairy cows in Ireland, but I just googled 'dairy cow cull ireland' and found a paper in a veterinary journal about rates of culling:

    http://www.veterinaryirelandjournal.com/Links/PDFs/Peer/Peer_July_2008.pdf

    If you look at Table 3, it shows that more dairy cows are slaughtered in Ireland each year than beef cows (I never realised this!). If a cow is proved infertile or her yield starts to decline, she is killed as there is no economic value in keeping her. Male dairy calves are also killed soon after birth.


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    #3
    Waste0fSpace
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29 ✭Waste0fSpace


    spiralbound wrote: »
    I don't have any peta-style links showcasing cruelty to dairy cows in Ireland, but I just googled 'dairy cow cull ireland' and found a paper in a veterinary journal about rates of culling:

    http://www.veterinaryirelandjournal.com/Links/PDFs/Peer/Peer_July_2008.pdf

    If you look at Table 3, it shows that more dairy cows are slaughtered in Ireland each year than beef cows (I never realised this!). If a cow is proved infertile or her yield starts to decline, she is killed as there is no economic value in keeping her. Male dairy calves are also killed soon after birth.

    Utter rubbish. In Ireland the vast majority male dairy calves are castrated and fattened for beef. In some other countries (eg New Zealand) dairy bull calves are slaughtered at birth, not here.


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    #4
    spiralbound
    Registered Users Posts: 215 ✭✭spiralbound


    Waste0fSpace wrote: »
    Utter rubbish. In Ireland the vast majority male dairy calves are castrated and fattened for beef. In some other countries (eg New Zealand) dairy bull calves are slaughtered at birth, not here.

    Yikes, apologies! I assumed the situtation here was similar to the UK, where a lot of male dairy calves are killed at birth (well, according to a TV programme I saw, I'm open to correction though - Janet Street Porter was in it, it must be true!). Slaughter at birth, though, may be preferable to live export to continental Europe for raising as veal, which is what currently happens to half of them:

    http://www.thecattlesite.com/articles/2609/beef-production-from-the-dairy-herd
    http://www.teagasc.ie/news/2010/201011-09.asp

    Either way, there is a lot of killing inherent in the dairy industry, regardless of the welfare of the animals while alive.


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    #5
    Absurdum
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,445 ✭✭✭Absurdum


    Waste0fSpace wrote: »
    In Ireland the vast majority male dairy calves are castrated and fattened for beef.

    phew!

    grand so, move along, nothing to see here


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    #6
    Jambo221
    Registered Users Posts: 206 ✭✭Jambo221


    Ideally, if you're in any doubt, do without. I stopped using milk in tea/coffee ages before I stopped drinking it altogether. Even if you can guarantee that the milk came locally from a humanely treated cow, there's many good reasons not to drink it nutritionally, taste is the only reason I can think of for drinking cow's milk, even then I prefer the taste of alternate-source milks.

    If you are buying locally though, it's possible to check that the animals are being treated humanely, so while things like milk, eggs & honey aren't vegan, you can decide for yourself whether or not to abstain, though if the animals are being treated humanely, they're still being exploited, which is what veganism is against.

    Rennets in cheese, Gelatin products and soups that contain animal stocks are something that even vegetarians should look out for though I think. Hope this info is of some use.


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