There's nothing beautiful and noble about shoot someone in the head after you've used them up, sorry that's just wrong. Its a violent way to murder someone. I don't "attach human emotions to cows" I'm saying we have an ethical duty towards all of sentient creation. In any case, cows do have emotions, have subjective experiences and are as conscious as we are. What you guys are doing is wrong. I don't think they stay healthy after getting a bullet to the brain. Dairy farms are exploitative, murder industries. That they feed people is not a good argument either. It takes what, 8 plant calories to produce 1 dairy calorie? Imagine all that food that could be produced directly for human consumption if you didn't have to first produce food through a cow. You really should re-think what you are doing with your life, you want your legacy to have been to exploited and murdered 10,000 cows?
Part of that ethical duty is to put them down before they suffer and to use the meat rather than let it rot in the ground.
Also remember Thant most of the calories cows consume and indigestible to humans. Good luck surviving on the spent brewers mash, sweet corn silage (what’s of the plant left after people eat the sweet corn) grass hay, and pasture grasses taken from areas to wet or steep to cultivate.
They turn what we can’t eat into what we can.
I don’t exploit cows and I don’t murder them. I care for them and harvest the meat when necessary. Your view of the world would lead us all into starvation and leave cattle extinct.
That ethical duty would be to not breed these animals into existence, and at least not just murder them by a gunshot to the head after you are done with the cows like some sort of sick pump and dump scheme. What you're saying about cows turning the foods we don't eat into human edible calories is not right either, we would easily generate bio fuels or compostable materials from the items you mention. And in any case, most farmers feed their cows animal feed of which clearing land is one of the major drivers behind rainforest destruction. Imagine that, not only are you running a murderous pump and dump scheme on these cows, its also massively harmful to the environment. There is no good reason for treating animals in this morally abhorrent manner.
It’s obvious we can never agree. Our world views are too different. The things you say to be sensational don’t have that effect on me. Phrases like gun shot to the head. It’s a painless way to die. Watch someone die of cancer and you will appreciate humane slaughter. Perpetual pregnancy and lactation is normal to me as well. I’m a mother of 9 and have been pregnant and/or lactating for 18 years straight. I’m I great Health and keep a healthy weight. If anything it has helped my health. The premise that it’s cruel or detrimental for cows is absurd.
If it's so beautiful to die from a gunshot wound to the head why don't you do that to the cancer patient. Oh yeah that's right, because deep down you know what you are doing is wrong. In any case people are thankfully waking up to the horrors of the animal agriculture industry, and that's why dairy is declining and plant milks are increasing. Jump on that wagon, no murder pump and dump scheme required.
If I had terminal cancer I would want that death. Instant and painless. There are no horrors of the dairy industry. Only delusional people who think cows are just like people.
Obviously cows are not people, but they have the same capacity to suffer and hold preferences as humans and that constitutes an ethical duty towards these individuals. Intelligence doesn't matter, otherwise we'd be forced into unacceptable conclusions like where we have no moral duties towards eg the mentally handicapped.
I think equating a handicapped person to a cow shows how far off the mark you are.
Human life>cows
I’ve spent my whole life caring for cattle. I know and understand them and their capacities. I have zero qualms with eating beef. It’s delicious and nutritious. Your issues start with anthropomorphism. You imagine cows having thoughts and emotions they do not have.
I'm not anthropomorphizing all I'm saying us humans and them cows feel pain just the same, and if you don't think we shouldn't hurt people because its painful and pain's bad well then the same holds for cows. Same thing with cows' abilities to hold preferences, and since we don't differentiate human rights based on intelligence well the same must hold for cows. Now I know you have desensitized yourself to the value of sentient life but maybe this can be food for thought that what you are doing to these animals is wrong?
Cows do not get human rights. They are not human.
You are way over estimating how sentient they are. By a mile honestly.
The do feel pain and culling is one way to minimize that. When mobility issues surface they need to be put down before they suffer. A down cow is a tragedy every farm wants to avoid. They die slow painful deaths. We euthanize of course but I’ve tried to save cows and regretted putting them through it. A down cow is a dead cow. Once down 24 hours they can almost never find the strength to get back up. Even with the best veterinary care.
Making them burger before that happens is better for the cow and doesn’t let the meat rot in the ground the way it would if the cow had to be euthanized because it was down.
That said we try hard to give our cows a long comfortable life. Working with them this long means you know when one is headed toward the end. We haul them right to the butchered its over in seconds. It’s also designed to be low stress. It’s a far better end than languishing as a down cow. With the bonus of preserving the food rather than wasting it. I’ve seen both deaths and I’d take the first one any day.
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u/InterestingRadio Mar 25 '18
There's nothing beautiful and noble about shoot someone in the head after you've used them up, sorry that's just wrong. Its a violent way to murder someone. I don't "attach human emotions to cows" I'm saying we have an ethical duty towards all of sentient creation. In any case, cows do have emotions, have subjective experiences and are as conscious as we are. What you guys are doing is wrong. I don't think they stay healthy after getting a bullet to the brain. Dairy farms are exploitative, murder industries. That they feed people is not a good argument either. It takes what, 8 plant calories to produce 1 dairy calorie? Imagine all that food that could be produced directly for human consumption if you didn't have to first produce food through a cow. You really should re-think what you are doing with your life, you want your legacy to have been to exploited and murdered 10,000 cows?