It seems obvious to anyone exploring a vegetarian diet for the sake of animals that not eating their flesh is a good thing. But there is a bigger picture when it comes to animal suffering that needs to be examined. Dairy products like cheese also result in extreme physical, emotional, and psychological torment for animals, as well as being environmentally damaging and bad for our health. To counter all these negative outcomes, choosing a plant-based vegan diet is the only way forward. And going vegan has never been easier!
The Hidden Cruelty of Dairy Farming
Cheese is made from milk, but milk is not the natural or victimless product the adverts portray. In fact, the dairy farming industry is rife with cruelty. Because milk is produced only for a baby, cows and other animals are repeatedly impregnated to ensure constant pregnancies mean continuous milk production. But their young are not really wanted, and so they are taken from their mothers shortly after birth, causing immense distress to both mother and calf. Female calves are typically raised to continue this cycle, while male calves may be kept in tiny hutches before being slaughtered for veal. If profit cannot be made from the calf’s body, he or she will be shot at birth.
This cycle of pregnancy, separation and death, goes on and on to meet the world’s demand for milk and cheese. And it ends when the mother is exhausted and broken, when she is also sent to the slaughterhouse.
Giving Up Cheese
For many people, cheese is the hardest food to give up when making the transition to a vegan diet. Dairy companies know this and rely on tactical marketing that hides the truth and keeps people buying. If their customers saw how much suffering went into cheese production, it would be a lot easier to give it up.
However, we believe that ‘giving up’ cheese is not a loss; it is a gain. We gain the peace of mind that we have not contributed to the appalling suffering routinely inflicted on mothers and their young by the dairy industry. And we can still get the flavor and experience we love with plant-based cheeses.
What About Ethical and Humane Meat and Cheese?
We hear a lot from meat and dairy companies about ‘high welfare’ and ‘humane slaughter’ but the truth in no way matches these marketing terms.
Investigations the world over have demonstrated the appalling conditions for the animals who are farmed intensively, but also for those in supposed higher-welfare systems. There is no kind way to farm and kill animals for their bodies, but the scale of suffering is wholly unimaginable.
Chickens, turkeys, ducks, and pigs are most commonly intensively farmed, and consequently experience the greatest deprivations, neglect, and suffering. For the mothers who are used to breed the animals who are slaughtered for meat, the pain goes on and on. And it is exactly the same in the dairy industry. As soon as their young are taken from them, the cows are prepared for insemination again. Cows grieve for the loss and call out for days for their stolen young.
For cows in the dairy industry, there is no respite from the pain, and nor is there a happy retirement when their bodies break down and they can no longer produce the quantities of milk demanded by the industry. The dairy industry is every bit as cruel as the meat industry.
Zero Grazing Dairy
Unfortunately, the dairy industry is evolving in the wrong direction. Instead of thinking more about the health and wellbeing of the animals whose young and milk they are stealing, dairy farmers have sought to reduce costs by embracing ‘zero grazing’. These are dairy farms where cows live their whole lives inside sheds, standing on concrete floors, where robot-operated machinery collects their milk. These gentle animals who naturally roam and graze never get to feel grass beneath their hooves or the sun on their face, and they never get to bond with their child.
Zero-grazing farms are becoming increasingly common in the US and UK as the industry looks to minimize expensive human inputs and maximize outputs — whatever the cost to the animals trapped in the system.
Dairy Cows Are Slaughtered
Most people understand that meat is a part of an animal, and that an individual was slaughtered to get it. But it is less understood that slaughter is intrinsic to the dairy trade, too. Animals are sacrificed routinely when they are no longer able to produce the industrial-quantities of milk required of them, and their bodies are turned into beef. This means that most cows farmed for dairy are killed by the age of six, a fraction of their natural lifespan. Perhaps most shocking of all is that a study in Europe found that 10-15 percent of cows used for their milk are pregnant when slaughtered. It is hard to imagine how a compassionate society could allow this, let alone reward it.
The Carbon Footprint of Cheese vs Meat
Cheese production is extremely resource-intensive. Converting milk into cheese is inefficient, with one kilo of cheese requiring ten liters of milk. As milk is taken from cows (or other ruminant animals like sheep and goats), there is a large climate impact because ruminants emit large concentrations of methane.
Because of this, cheese is one of the most damaging foods for the environment. In fact, the only products worse than cheese are beef, lamb, and farmed prawns. But just take a look at the impact of plant-based milks! Soy milk has one third of the climate impact of milk from cows, making it the most sustainable choice, as well as the most compassionate.
Nutritional Downfalls of Cheese and Meat
When it comes to our own health, which is worse: meat or cheese? Well, neither are good!
Cheese is high in saturated fats, cholesterol, and sodium, contributing to a range of health issues including heart disease and hypertension. It lacks the essential nutrients found in whole plant foods and can be addictive, making it hard for many people to eliminate it from their diet. In short, cheese is not a healthy food.
And neither is meat. All processed meats are a class 1 carcinogen, while all red meat is classified as “probably carcinogenic”. And it isn’t just cancer that is connected to meat consumption; there is plenty of evidence suggesting eating meat is associated with a wide range of diseases, including heart disease.
Conclusion
While both the meat and dairy industries cause significant harm to animals, the environment, and human health, cheese production embodies a unique blend of protracted cruelty, environmental degradation, and human health risks. One might argue that the repetitive cycle of cruelty inflicted on animals trapped in the dairy industry is worse than for animals farmed for meat.
But all animal exploitation is unethical and unnecessary. The real answer to the question which is worse? might actually be, does it matter? The nuances of how bad different animal-farming sectors are is irrelevant when all of them are terrible for animals, humans, and the planet we live on — so why should we continue to support any of them?
Luckily for us, going plant-based and choosing plant-based milks and cheeses has never been easier or more delicious. And GenV is here to support anyone wishing to make a positive change and a positive difference in the world.
