Vegetarians - What are your thoughts on dairy?

Question

I'm interested to know what lacto-(ovo) vegetarians think of dairy, where it fits in with you ethically. I suppose it really comes down to welfare v. abolition, but how do you feel about it?

Forced impregnation, connection with the veal industry, used solely as a commodity, etc.

http://www.mercyforanimals.org/dairy_and_veal.asp

Answer 1

Good question.

First, let me set the context. I own an arable farm surrounded by beef, sheep and dairy farms. So i see this first hand, no scaremongering from me.

If a vegetarain drinks milk they need to be aware they are responsible for the following. If they are comfortable with that, fair enough, but its important people reaslise the image of a cow on green pasture eating buttercups died out in the 1940's.

Cows are AI'd every year as oppsed to thier natural 3-5 year cycle.
They are killed at 7 year old instead of a natural 15-20 year death
more than half the calves are killed at 1 week old ( bulls, free martins, excess cows etc )
Food is enriched with artificial hormone growth "Stuff"
They are mainly fed on feed/bridge computer controlled carousels that control the exact amount of food they get depending on yeaterdays milk yield. If they give too little milk, they get a dose of hormones.
they are milked for 60 litres a day, compare this to thier natural 10-15 litres.
400 cattle can be millked by one herdsman, twice a day - leaving no time to inspect or pay attention to animal welfare

Often cows go lame because of the unnatural weight of excess milk every day

all true, not nice to see....and this is in award winning "pride of the industry" dairies

Correcting one point above, you will find many coutries no longer support the veal industry. America does. Not saying that makes any of the rest of it ok, but its important we stick to the facts - the truth is bad enough !

Answer 2

I'm actually not a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I used to be, but then I decided to stop consuming dairy products based on what I found out when I researched the issue.
I think that the dairy industry is incredibly cruel to the animals...in some ways, more so that the animals that go to slaughter. At least they are put out of their misery eventually, but these animals suffer long-term (not that the others don't, mind you!).
Impregnating the cows repeatedly, taking the calves from their mothers and never given any milk, the painful machines that leave sores, the sores that are never treated and are infected, the veal industry, the list goes on! It is all very disturbing to me and I don't understand how some veggies continue to consume dairy AFTER they find out about these practices.
To each his own, but it's not for me.

Answer 3

I think its honestly sick. The female calf's are kept in veal crates. Machines are attached to their utter where the milk is violently sucked out, leaving permanent physical damage. I find it hard to understand why some vegetarians (if vegetarian for humane reasons) support this practice.

Answer 4

i think its sick, its disgusting and revolting. not only, is consuming dairy a way of supporting slaughter, but whats in dairy..is really gross.