Five Reasons I'm Vegan (Compassion)

Today I'm continuing my mini series about why we are a vegan family! We choose to be vegan due to three factors: health, compassion and the environment. I'm not here to be militant or scary, but I hope everybody can learn from some of these facts! Today's focus is on veganism for the animals. This is a hard subject to speak about but it's a very worthy one as many of the facts aren't common knowledge.



💚 Like humans, a cow has to be pregnant to make milk. Dairy cows are forcibly impregnated, and their calves are taken away, usually within 24 hours - males to be slaughtered for veal and rennet (a cheese making enzyme found in their stomachs) and females are raised to become dairy cows themselves. The mother's milk is collected for human consumption and her separated calf is given milk substitute. (As a nursing mother myself, I find this separation/exploitation incredibly upsetting.)
💚 Cows are clever and compassionate. They have been known to try and hide their calves, and both mother and calf cry out for one another after being separated. They are social creatures who are capable of close friendships and who grieve when losing a loved one. In a non commercial herd, cows will nurse their calves for up to 3 years.
💚 Free range egg laying chickens usually have large portions of their beaks cut off without anaesthesia to stop them from pecking each other in close confinement. They are generally sent to slaughter after about one year of egg laying, despite having a natural lifespan of seven years. They are often kept in sheds, seeing little or no sunlight during their short lives.
💚 Male chicks are of no use to the egg or meat industries so are killed almost immediately after hatching - sometimes gassed, often thrown into a grinder.
💚 Animals are commonly still conscious when they are slaughtered.

These days it's easy to remove the link between sentient beings and packaged meat and dairy but awareness and informed choices are everything. I've dreaded writing this post as it's horrible to think about, but I hope this series has been helpful so far?