Comments on: Vegan F.A.Q. #1 – Milking backyard cows

By: How To Meet Girls

How To Meet Girls — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 18:40:14 +0000

Greetings from Dublin. This is a cool site. Does anyone have any advice about staying out of the friend zone with women? I’m really tired of girls telling me they just want to be friends. Maybe I’m being too nice?

By: the increase

the increase — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:55:50 +0000

The information here is great. I will reccomend my friend who is really into this stuff to take come on by

By: Tessa

Tessa — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:57:12 +0000

Forgive me for sounding smarmy, but I have to ask, if we let the cows live freely, won’t they reproduce themselves and still overproduce milk and develop infections? Actually, a cow starts going into heat at about 8 months of age, and enters heat monthly unless she is pregnant, so you’re likely to have more health problems in your free cow farm than not, because animals will get pregnant more often, and start getting pregnant before their bodies are large enough to cope very well. Additionally, a free cow will not be “dried off” for the last months of her pregnancy to conserve energy for gestation. How should one cope with these issues? Should we separate the sexes? That hardly seems to be offering a free, natural existence by depriving them of their natural urges. Additionally, I am yet unaware of a safe way to house multiple bulls without risking severe injury to the bulls themselves or to their caretakers. I appreciate your idea of returning animals to this pastoral lifestyle, but I think that its practice would be irresponsible.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:08:51 +0000

Actually, no, I’m not a PETA member, and many vegans are not PETA members and in fact are very much against their tactics. However, as crazy as PETA appears, even they do NOT condone violence against humans. Overall, veganism is a movement of nonviolence and liberty for all. We want to give all sentient beings the right to freely and naturally live their lives without us exploiting them for their body parts or secretions. If humans needed cow breast milk to live, that would be one thing, but the fact is no one needs it. It is an unnecessary product, and we are interfering in another being’s life for no good reason except for profit and taste.
I am surprised that you would still want to drink milk after reading this post about everything that is in milk.
“They should be put into jail for trying to veganise people.” In America, we have free speech. We can say whatever we like. No one should be put into jail for expressing their views. Also, what is the crime in someone becoming vegan? Millions of people are vegans and are happy and healthy. It’s in no way a harmful lifestyle that someone should be put into jail just for promoting it.
Finally, It’s not about keeping the dairy slaves in good conditions because it’s still SLAVERY. It’s about letting them be free to live their lives as they wish without our interference. The milk they produce is for their babies just as the milk we produce is for our human babies. Leave the cows alone!

By: Satish Bhardwaj

Satish Bhardwaj — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:37:10 +0000

I won’t want to be vaganized althoough I’m not drinking cow’s or goat’s milk because I only drink soy milk because of my prostate problem. I’m told that eating soy products helps a prostate although drinking soy milk, eating soy yogurt has not helped much. If I had money I’d buy a cow and milking it and donate its milk. I’d let my neighbors milk my cows. I do not think milking a cow is herrendous. The article has shown a man sucking the teats of a cow. The only danger is that some cows might break his jaw because the cows legs are very powerful. This cow seems to be very gentle and her udder is pretty low. Lying on the ground the man’s mouth can reach the teats of the cow. Not all cows have udders this low and your mouth would not reach the teats if you were lying on the ground. And you’ve to be careful you don’t bite the teats when you put it into your mouth. I’m sure the author of this site is a PETA member. I’m afraid of these Peta Members. They might start killing people who milk cows. They are a dangerous sort. They should be put into jail for trying to veganise people. I for one do not want to be veganize . If I can receive enough donations to buy a small farm with twenty cows I’d leave the city and move on to the farm and make videos to show that I’m keeping the cows happy. After all the people who drink Milk and eat cheese and yogurt make it opssible for the cow to have a life. It gets milked but it also gets fed.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:53:53 +0000

Hehe, thanks for the comment, Gunnard – glad we agree on something so fundamental :)

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:53:26 +0000

Thanks, Missy! :) So many people don’t understand what veganism is about – it’s about reducing harm in every possible way without harming yourself. So if meat was absolutely the only thing to eat for miles and for days or weeks, as in it was eat or die, vegans don’t see this as necessarily wrong. I can’t say all vegans would choose to eat it even if they were starving, but some vegans would.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:49:19 +0000

Thanks for this info, Gary! I always appreciate learning more in order to dispel every possible myth about dairy that I can.

By: gunnard

gunnard — Sat, 23 May 2009 10:47:06 +0000

“veganism recognizes that animals and their products should never be sold as commodities and that their property status is the root cause of the terrible injustices animals suffer” — that pretty much covers it ;)

By: Gary Loewenthal

Gary Loewenthal — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:48:07 +0000

In addition to all the excellent points you raised:

- Modern cows have been bred to produce up to 10 times more milk than normal. No matter how one got a cow pregnant, this huge overage of milk production causes hardships: It robs the cow’s body of calcium, which can lead to weak bones and, in some cases, lameness, and it increases the chance of painful udder infections.

- Cows are social animals, and a solitary cow is likely to be lonely.

By: Missy

Missy — Sun, 17 May 2009 01:33:19 +0000

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the article!!! I think at this juncture–given the choice, I simply couldn’t eat meat or dairy. The question I get asked quite often usually starts with “So, you’re telling me, if meat was the only thing on earth you had to eat-you wouldn’t eat it?” I always reply, I’m vegan NOT stupid. BUT, as long as I have a choice, I will choose vegan.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:13:40 +0000

Edward – Thank you :) Good for you making vegan choices when you can. We may not see a vegan world in our lives, but I do believe we’ll see a world where vegan options are everywhere one day. So then you’ll have to be vegan =P Like I’ve told you a while back, I’d probably be trying to suggest a million things you could eat instead of stuff with dairy, but I know hardly anything about the availability of foods in the UK, so I can’t just tell you veganism is easy like it is for me. I do sacrifice going to a lot of restaurants, but I also live close to a Whole Foods where I can find a lot of vegan products. Plus my bosses keep the freezer at work stocked with vegan convenience food, so I don’t have to worry about going out for lunch everyday when I’m at the office.

Edele – Glad you liked the post. I agree – when the alternative is there, there’s no excuse! :) Thanks for your comment!

By: Edele H

Edele H — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:57:58 +0000

Thank you Lindsey for this incredibly informative piece. I haven’t had dairy in about 2 years after seeing Earthlings. Personally, I enjoy finding new dairy alternatives. I think it’s fun trying new products and seeing which ones I like. Anything that helps eliminate animal suffering is okay by me. There are so many alternatives today there is no excuse to still be consuming dairy. Thanks again for sharing !

Peace and Love :)

By: Edward

Edward — Sat, 09 May 2009 23:46:52 +0000

That’s great Lindsey!
I haven’t bought real milk for about 18 months now, always soy because I prefer it, and it’s just as convenient. As far as avoiding products that contain dairy (like cakes, or pizzas) that’s going too far for me unfortunately.

If they had 2 cakes or 2 pizzas side by side and one was vegan and the other one was not, I’d definitely choose the vegan one. Otherwise I wouldn’t have much to buy from my local supermarket or the sandwich shops near work :-(

At least cheese here doesn’t contain rennet though, even though non-veggie cheese is 1:15000 rennet I still don’t eat it.