if everybody followed a vegan diet, where would all that honey and milk go?

Question

Honestly, I'm just curious, because I've heard that the calves don't actually need all the milk their mothers (the cows) produce. I don't know if this is true or not. As far as I know, it is true that for producing extra milk, BST and other hormones are injected into cows, causing them pain, and I don't like this practice so I refrain from dairy unless its organic. I've recently given up on refined sugar bc I know its not good for you, but I felt bad because I bought these (otherwise vegan) fruit grain bars that had honey in them. I read somewhere that bees need to visit thousands of flowers for one drop of honey to be produced from the pollen, and that shocked/surprised me. Of course I'd be sad if people cut down trees and destroyed bee hives to get at the honey, but if we don't get it, I guess the bears would get it all? Where would all that honey go?
Btw, I'm not suggesting that everyone become a vegan, I think people are free to choose their own diet and not judge others for their

thx for the responses so far.
hamsteakswimmer I like your idea.
sunshine, I see where you are coming from but wouldn't cows produce milk regardless of whether humans wanted it or not? Even if we don't force them to produce extra milk unnaturally, they're naturally designed to produce milk. As for the honey, well, bees would keep pollinating the flowers and produce honey even if we don't demand it right? Otherwise how do bears get honey?

Answer 1

just as an append to everyone else's answer -

calves initially recieve colostrum from their mother, and then after that it'll turn to regular milk. it'll gradually be weaned off of milk naturally by its mother. eventually the mother will dry just like a human mother if milk isn't continually stimulated. this is assuming that the cows aren't injected with hormones and what not.

as for bees - bees don't make honey for bears, or anything else to eat. in actuality, bees make honey for their own brood to eat. so, where would honey go? it would go to the queen's brood!

Answer 2

Hi there. I'm a former vegan. I was a vegan for health reasons (now just vegetarian) but I hope I can answer your question. From a health standpoint, dairy products like milk can create mucus in the body. This is a real problem for some people. If you always have a cold or runny nose or constipation or even blotchy and uneven skin, it could be because of dairy. For some people, it is incredibly hard on the digestive system. From a cruelty-free standpoint, drinking milk and honey supports the way animals are "exploited" for their meat and by-products and animals on feedlots are often subjected to hormonal treatments that get into the milk. I don't think bees are, however. I have yet to see a bee pumped up on steroids! Ha, ha! Anyways, the final part of your question....Vegans eat everything except meat, milk, honey or dairy products. This leaves fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, tofu, temph, soy, etc. Many vegans are excellent cooks who use a very wide variety of plant based foods. For example, quiona instead of rice because of its high protein content and mangoes and starfruits in addition to the standard apples and oranges. Hope that helps!

Answer 3

The bees use the honey and the milk would dry up. Cows do not make milk unless they have nursing calves or get injected with hormones. Its the same for any mammal. Human women produce milk due to hormones and if the milk is not used, it does not produce.

Answer 4

The milk would go to the calves because they do need some of it. The mother cows would wean the calves off as they grew older-all mammals do this. As for the honey...bees don't produce honey for bears or humans. They make it for themselves and they would use it for whatever they naturally use it for.

Answer 5

Worked on a dairy farm in Tucson and the cows were giving birth every year and then were milked for a period of time and them were let stop and then had a calf and then it started all over...the milk is pure when it gets from the dairy to the processing plant (if grade A: which means it never reached the air but straight to the vats and the trucks) where the milk is pastureized/ boiled to kill the bacteria from that may be there from the cow and the process itself...then about 75 chemicals are added called preservatives which for me is out of the question...so I went to soy silk.

Answer 6

The questioner's clarification itself provides most of an answer. As explained nature's creation is based on an absolute and all encompassing knowledge blended and disciplined into creatures in an harmonius manner to nurture and sustain all creation. While all species other than human beings live in an implicit and perfect natural order the special gifts of choice of action, concern for possessions and comfort as well as quest for knowledge and progress which nature implanted in the intellect and intelligence of human nature makes all the difference in respective life styles. Humans are created herbivorous by construction of dentures but choose animal diet as nessecity or veriety to supplement nutrition. Now if we reckon with the numbers of species populating the earth such as insects and animals scientific studies revealed that the former oughtweigh ,although small in stature, all others both in total weight and numbers constituting the earth. Anything that is natural is harmonius to living environment and positive for sustenance wheather excess milk produced by milching animals meeting the requirement of their offspring and offer to human beings for nutrition or all the toils of honey bees helping pollination and growth of natural vegetation. Why we human beings are creating disharmony and depravity to the natural order as experienced today both concerning the environment by way of pollution and harm to peaceful living caused by irrational acts of destruction inspite of all agreed scientific and technological progress? Excess and redundancy are nature's benevolence of creation, human greed and peverted concerns are their antidotes.

Answer 7

I only eat Organic dairy myself, and it's coming up on my second year, (July 3'rd,) without refined sugars. I don;t have an answer to your question, but i have a recommendation. the alternative baking company makes totaly vegan cookird. more healthfood stores are carrying them now. (Ps, mabye bees would just collect enough pollen for themselves and leave the rest. ??) Hope this helps! -question001

Answer 8

cows wouldn't lactate like that, because nature did not make them to serve us, only their calves. cows today are stuffed with horrimones.
as for bees... bears would eat it, and well, the bees use it
these things aren not goning to go wrong in nature if humans wernt here, infact, humans are killing the planet.

Answer 9

If everyone was vegan their wouldn't be all that honey and milk in the first place.

Answer 10

you can feed the honey to the cows and give the milk to the beez