If we all became Vegan by the end of next week what would happen to all the farm animals?

Question

There must 10's of millions of cows, sheep, chickens etc in the UK alone. What would happen if we all went Vegan? Would we have to slaughter them en masse? And how would we control the ones we left behind? Would we have to introduce natural predators into the UK like wolfs or just have annual culls to stop the population getting out of control? If left alone they would surely over run the now much needed vegatable crops?

Answer 1

It would be chaos......
At some stage all animals were "wild". Then humans domesticated them...

All of the animals would become feral...There would be wild cows attacking innocent folk all over the world.....Razorback hogs eating little human children.....Wild chickens ripping peoples lips off....

Oh but not to worry...I'll try my best to eat as many as I can ....


Oh, And to the dude below me...Milk cows have to be milked every day because her young was sold as a "milk calf"....Milk cows only produce milk after having a calf so if the calf was still there it would take care of the milking...And check out the link below ...most animals can return to a feral state easily and survive ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral

Answer 2

"Yes this question has been posed before and not once has it had a real answer"


Gee, I wonder why? What if scenarios don't mean anything in the real world. Especially what ifs that will never happen.

So you see, every answer here is nothing but a suggestion of what could happen in an event such as this. Since there is no reason to actually feed this scenario, Ill leave it to you guys to argue it out. I wouldn't think it would be worth working up a sweat over, but if you want to troll and taunt go for it. We will just laugh at the ignorance. Nothing new to the v & vs. Have fun in your hypothetical little worlds.

down below-i dont think this is a real scenario that needs to be pondered, but truth be known I have a very different view on what some think is good progression. Id be quite happy to see less what ifs in many subjects..you know? :)-i wa sjust to broad in saying What if scenarios don't mean anything in the real world. I think you got the jist of it !

Answer 3

I would just let everyone know that you are a vegan and leave it at that. If that person is interested they will approach you about. You can bring it up but if the person isn't interested then don't take it any further. Also you don't have to make it about being vegan, maybe just getting them to eat free range animals. Not everyone is going to be a vegan, but everyone can do something to help animals.

Answer 4

The reason this is a "stupid question to non-meat-eaters" is because, logistically, this would never happen. If everyone DID eventually go vegan, it would happen slowly, over time. Less animals would be bred because there would be less demand. In the end, the last animals may be all killed (sad, but better that than the future generations dying as well). If that doesn't happen, I'm not sure what will. The ideal would be that the last animals would be set free to live life comfortably in the wild... However, that will probably not be a possibility anymore. There are very few places for them to live.

"No I dont think the vegan arguement has been fully thought through."

And neither has your argument. As I mentioned above, veganism would never happen to the whole world overnight. It's a silly argument used by omnivores to wield off their guilt.

Answer 5

They would all form a rock band called Nuclear Rooster and thier first single "Grain of Life" would top the charts! But after the second album half the rythum section would get all religious and cause a split in the band and by thier fifth year they'd be religated to playing the country fairs where they once all lived.

Very Sad.

Answer 6

I can't speak for others but I for one foresee this sort of thing leading to the rising of the chicken empire. With no one to keep them under check and keep killing them off then their numbers would rise and they would become more wily, more cunning and more capable of killing man and beast.
I for one am prepared to campaign against this happening for the rest of my life, as well as stopping the cow kingdom and the Sheep Sultanism by eating my fair share of farm animals every week. Someone else will have to take care of the pigs as there is only so many lives I can save.

Answer 7

If everyone was vegan they would be horrified by the idea about killing the animals. (that is if everyone become vegan for animal rights issues.) Some do it for health reasons.
All of the animal rights vegans would adopt some of the pets.

Answer 8

I imagine they would have to be slaughtered out right, but at least then the suffering would be over.
The question is pointless however as it will never happen over night instead a reduction would be seen as with smoking which would lead to a reduction in supply before it was fazed out completely.

Answer 9

Typical veggie reply from Michael H. Yes this question has been posed before and not once has it had a real answer. For my two penneth, if farm animals ceased to be useful to humans,ie we couldnt eat them or use their products.They would have to be gotten rid of. They are too many and two expensive to be kept as pets. So even if everyone went vegan, the slaughter would not stop. In fact it would increase.
Imagine the outcry from the veggies as millions of cattle, sheep and pigs were killed for NO reason, not even for food. Giant pyres dotted the skyline. plumes of smoke from dead carcasses rising into the atmosphere. Like the Foot and Mouth crisis but on an exponentially larger scale. And all at the behest of the vegan minority.
What of the farmers that bred these food animals? If they all turned into arable farms there would be a massive price war between farmers as produce would be so abundant. Their product would have to be sold so cheaply it would be impossible to make a living. No I dont think the vegan arguement has been fully thought through.

Answer 10

It's more than likely that they would all be slaughtered, as there would be a cost to farmers in keeping them alive and no profit to show for it - which is why these animals are kept in the first place.

They would also be subject to diseases, such as tuberculosis - which livestock can easily catch from badgers - which would then spread to humans, so that would be another reason for mass slaughter.

I've talked to one of my mates about this and he lives and works on a local farm - he also said the farmland would most likely be sold and houses built there.