Why are vegans against family-owned dairy farms?
The cow pictured above is Vanilla, a cow formerly used for dairy who now lives at Maple Farm Sanctuary. Read her story and the story of how the sanctuary went from a dairy farm to an animal sanctuary.
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I was checking social media this morning and noticed a post from a family dairy farm with a picture of a cow being milked and her newborn calf in a separate pen. The original post was meant to be lighthearted, but a vegan who reposted it to vegan groups and was clearly extremely angry, calling on others in the group to go comment how disgusting this photo was.
As I was scrolling through the comments on the original post, there were essentially a few types of comments:
Wow cute baby cow (this was clearly the intended reaction to the post)
OMG this is so disgusting and horrible. Stop raping mothers and murdering babies
Stupid vegans have no brains because no meat LOL
Dear “dairy farm name” we love you so much. Sorry you are being attacked by these horrible vegans. *Thoughts and prayers*
Let me be clear:
I do not support small family owned dairy farms or ANY dairy farms.
But I found myself wondering: does this type of reaction from vegans actually make any positive difference to dairy cows and their babies, or does it just make vegans look (more) insane to people who already are supporters of the dairy industry?
I’m pretty sure it’s the latter. You have to know your audience. It’s a little bit like when people who eat meat comment on a Mercy for Animals post something like “mmm that cow looks tasty.” There’s no vegan reading that post that says “wow, you know what? He’s right. That cow DOES look tasty. I’m going to eat meat again.” In the same way, commenting on a dairy farm’s post calling them rapists and murderers is not going to change the minds of their audience, which is people who like them on Facebook and clearly support their business. All it does is make them fight back and hate us even more. There were some pretty horrible personal attacks in the thread toward both the dairy supporters and the vegans. It’s frustrating and counterproductive.
Some might argue that if even ONE person goes vegan because of these comments, then it’s worth it. But is it? Because we’ve just reinforced hundreds of people’s negative views toward vegans by reacting to this post, which was meant to give the dairy farm’s supporters a chuckle and an update on a cute baby cow that was just born. We’re making more enemies by pushing all these supporters further away from ever even considering veganism in a positive light. With a rational discussion, maybe both sides could have learned something instead of just hating each other based on a disagreement in beliefs.
Every time I see a post like this from a small dairy farm, it’s clear they’re trying to defend their business and deflect the statements vegans are throwing at them. They explain that their cows are pampered; they love their cows; the babies do get their mothers’ milk; cows are not good mothers naturally, and on and on. These farmers don’t seem to believe there is anything wrong with what they’re doing. It’s their livelihood and probably has been for generations. This is one of the most difficult crowds to talk to regarding animal rights and veganism. Because on the surface, it seems they’re treating their animals well, and many of the people who support them clearly respect this aspect of their business.
And to reiterate, no I don’t agree with what they’re doing. I don’t think we should laugh or comment on how cute it is that a mother cow and her calf are being separated so the farmer can take her milk. But we need to understand that there are some fundamental disagreements here that make both sides sensitive, defensive, and unwilling to accept the opposite side’s point of view.
If you’re a dairy farmer reading this and wondering why vegans are attacking you, here are two very simple points where we diverge as far as what we believe is inherently right or wrong in the care of animals.
Vegans believe taking the mother’s milk that’s meant for her calf and using it for human consumption is wrong.
yes, even if the mother makes extra milk; the cows are well cared for; the calves are still getting some milk, etc. It is not our milk. It is the calf’s milk. That’s it! Even if the mom is naturally not a great mom and might crush her calf if they’re not separated, it’s still not our milk to take and consume.
Vegans are against all animal slaughter.
Male calves are commonly either slaughtered for veal production or raised as meat.
Dairy cows are slaughtered earlier in life once they stop producing milk.
I could keep going about why vegans hate the dairy industry, and yes, for most that still includes small family farms. There are lots of reasons which are easily Googlable. It’s clear that dairy farms and vegans are not in agreement about how animals should or should not be used and treated.
But basically I’m grossed out by the reactions of both sides in threads like the one I saw this morning.
Dairy farmers, our views are not extreme. We believe animals should not be used for human’s needs or desires. Even if your dairy cows somehow all magically live out their full natural lives on your farm, we just disagree with them being used as products in any way. You can be the most humane dairy farm in existence by industry standards but it will never be enough for us because there is an inherent disagreement between you and us about what is humane.
Vegans, we have to be careful how we approach conversations with dairy farmers or people who loyally support them. We are doing more harm than good with personal attacks. I understand that it hurts to see animals on dairy farms no matter the size of the farm. I’m not saying we can’t make a difference or that we shouldn’t try, but we are all people and we don’t tend to side with people who attack us. Let’s consider our audience and aim for actual discussion instead of accusations and attacks on people we don’t even know.