• None of the above.

    I’m the humble contrarian.

    You might have a good point, but you’re being self-righteous and smug. I’m ordering a turkey sandwich because your lack of humility irritates me and I want to piss you off.

  • I would have been torn between leftist philosopher and scumbag, but I really want someone to refer to me as Bloodmouth. That’s metal as fuck.

    Anyway, it takes five seconds to google what happens to a dairy cow if you stop milking them. The answer may surprise you /s

    • The fun part about that is, if you just let the calves they birthed drink the milk, nothing happens to the mother!

      Just a quick reminder in case anyone didn’t know: no such thing as a dairy cow. Mammals typically lactate after giving birth. Doesn’t matter if it’s a cow or a human. If you intervene in the calf (or baby) in order to harvest the milk, there can be complications if not milked regularly.

      Additionally, cows don’t continue to make milk (just like humans). They need to give birth each time, however you can pump them full of hormones to prolong the lactation in order to maximize the profit.

      That’s part of the reason “dairy” cows only have a life expectancy of 4-5 years in an industrial dairy farming setting vs a ~20 year life expectancy at a sanctuary or in the wild.

      The question is: what happens to the calves? The answer may surprise you /s

      • Well, they grow into happy cows because I don’t like how veal tastes.

        Less snarky answer, I will concede that milk production comes from repeated breeding and is intentionally exacerbated by removal of the calf. And also that we could just…not do that. However, I would like to correct this and say that dairy cow is a breed.

        Beef cows are bred to be stocky for the meat. Wagyu beef, made famous and expensive for its texture and marbling, cover only four breeds of cow. You’re not getting wagyu from a dairy cow.

        Regular breeding cows produce around 1.3 gallons (5 liters) of milk and gradually dry out over the course of a year as their calf grows and stops drinking. Dairy cows have the same time constraints, but produce eight gallons (30 liters).

        They’ve been altered intentionally to far overproduce as a breed and while tapering off would be possible, they would need to be monitored every time they’re lactating so they don’t in significant pain or die somehow.

        It would be disingenuous, I think, to pretend every cow is the same cow and we can just stop and everything will instantly be fine. I suspect if they had no dietary use, they’d require so much care they’d be a niche thing and quite literally all of that would be dumped on the ground or something.

  • I’m the “unknowing”. Except I’ve seen the animals being born, fed them, seen them being transported 2.9km to the Butcher and even plucked the chickens. Either they sell it there or give it back to the farm to process it.
    I herded them to the grassland early in the morning and brought them back at the end of the day. Or watched them, since they and the dog knew the drill.
    We even have two sheep in our backyard. 20 are - more than enough - of nice lawn, with two sheds.
    The meat I eat IS from happy animals. I know because I knew the animals.