Dvds and Books on factory-farming to encourage me to give up dairy
December 21, 2012 10:18 AM Subscribe
Philosophically, I believe in eating a plant-based vegan diet. In practice, it has proven difficult, as we are so disconnected from the animals that we are consuming. The most difficult for me is giving up dairy. So HiveMind, please help me by recommending books and DVDs on modern -day factory farming , which will reconnect me with the animals I am consuming. I am hoping that by seeing their suffering I will be no longer be able to be complicate in their exploitation. I have Our Daily Bread on DVD, and have Earthlings on hold from the library. I see there is a series on Peta.org, called Meet Your Meat. But, I really want a DVD, I'm not trying to watch stuff on my computer. I have also seen the Got the Facts on Milk documentary, but I really what to have a visual connection between dairy cows and the production of milk, so that when I think of consuming dairy I have an image that would deter me from doing so.
Response by poster: Thanks Sid, I was hoping to see something that the farms would NOT want to have exposed, such as the cruelty, which I understand is rampant. Thanks :)
posted by TRUELOTUS at 10:56 AM on December 21, 2012
posted by TRUELOTUS at 10:56 AM on December 21, 2012
I took a trip to a cheese factory once with a friend who wavered between vegetarian and vegan. They had a model of a cow with a milking machine- that image seemed to really upset her, the strange appearance of animal and machine together. So perhaps seeing milking in action at a dairy farm would be what you want. Plus, on a tour, you can ask questions like "does this hurt the cows?" "what happens to the baby cows?" and see how the farmers respond. Do they think of the cows as animals that they care about, or as cogs in the machinery?
Personally, I don't feel like it's inhumane to milk cows- but the best way to determine your feelings on something like this is to see it in person and talk to those involved, pet the cows, etc. If your feelings are already made up, and you just need something to cause you to not consume milk, make up your own imagery, or convince yourself that you're lactose intolerant.
posted by Secretariat at 10:58 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Personally, I don't feel like it's inhumane to milk cows- but the best way to determine your feelings on something like this is to see it in person and talk to those involved, pet the cows, etc. If your feelings are already made up, and you just need something to cause you to not consume milk, make up your own imagery, or convince yourself that you're lactose intolerant.
posted by Secretariat at 10:58 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I haven't read either of these, but check out Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, although the later is more an argument for eating local than going vegan.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:04 AM on December 21, 2012
posted by hydrophonic at 11:04 AM on December 21, 2012
I grew up in a dairy farming community and had several friends whose families were dairy farmers, and I don't think cruelty is actually rampant in small dairy farms by any means. Unless my friends and their parents were doing things differently when I was there than they were otherwise.
The people I know who are goat and sheep dairy farmers are even more attentive to their animals, like my one friend who had a goat with a broken leg living in her kitchen all winter.
You may be looking for a smoking gun that isn't there, though I don't doubt there are large factory-style dairy farms with questionable practices.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:17 AM on December 21, 2012 [8 favorites]
The people I know who are goat and sheep dairy farmers are even more attentive to their animals, like my one friend who had a goat with a broken leg living in her kitchen all winter.
You may be looking for a smoking gun that isn't there, though I don't doubt there are large factory-style dairy farms with questionable practices.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:17 AM on December 21, 2012 [8 favorites]
What about making an effort to support local dairy farms that have ethical/humane milking practices?
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 11:17 AM on December 21, 2012 [8 favorites]
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 11:17 AM on December 21, 2012 [8 favorites]
Response by poster: Yes, Secretariat and Sid, I think you are right. And, that is great advice to ask questions. I am not far from Wisconsin, so I think I will have a lot of options in regards to tours. And, I am really curious as to what happens to the baby male calves, I hear that they are killed. I what to stop consuming dairy for me and for the animals. As we all know from the China Study, milk contains one of the #1 carcinogens know to man. so even if i found the milking itself to be humane, I would still not want to consume it, and than if they kill the calves....well damn! that makes the case all the more stronger for me.. Thanks again!!!
posted by TRUELOTUS at 11:19 AM on December 21, 2012
posted by TRUELOTUS at 11:19 AM on December 21, 2012
Response by poster: Yes Sid, I agree, this cruelty is mostly found in the large factory farms- which I am mostly consuming- as I have not made the effort to support local, small farms- which would be a better option.
posted by TRUELOTUS at 11:25 AM on December 21, 2012
posted by TRUELOTUS at 11:25 AM on December 21, 2012
There is no doubt that the male calves are killed. Some of them may be kept around longer and not slaughtered as veal, but they almost certainly going to be killed for consumption. For that matter, most dairy cows end up being turned into some sort of food as well. Typically canning grade beef comes from dairy cows.
This doesn't bother me in the slightest, but if you are looking for reasons to turn against dairy, perhaps this helps.
posted by nolnacs at 11:30 AM on December 21, 2012
This doesn't bother me in the slightest, but if you are looking for reasons to turn against dairy, perhaps this helps.
posted by nolnacs at 11:30 AM on December 21, 2012
Veal calves are often male dairy calves. Veal production is about as cruel as it gets.
posted by Fig at 11:31 AM on December 21, 2012
posted by Fig at 11:31 AM on December 21, 2012
Cruelty isn't rampant on dairy farms, for starters dairy cows are hella expensive, I've seen them sell for $30k. They are pretty pampered. Honest. But the calves are generally sold for meat and that's the reason a lot of people I know don't eat dairy.
posted by fshgrl at 11:32 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by fshgrl at 11:32 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I'm lucky enough to be able to get a significant portion of my omnivorous diet from local farmers, via the Dekalb Farmers Market.
Supporting these folks goes a LONG way towards returning to the humane farming practices of the past.
My family owned a farm (Pot farm, but with animals) and every animal was fed an organic diet, lived a wonderful life and was humanely killed when the time came.
I'm comfy about where I am in the food chain, and I believe that we can do this ethically and humanely and I support people who are doing that.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:34 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Supporting these folks goes a LONG way towards returning to the humane farming practices of the past.
My family owned a farm (Pot farm, but with animals) and every animal was fed an organic diet, lived a wonderful life and was humanely killed when the time came.
I'm comfy about where I am in the food chain, and I believe that we can do this ethically and humanely and I support people who are doing that.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:34 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Mod note: Folks please don't turn this into a debate. Give the OP books and DVS on the subject they are interested in and leave the rest alone, please? OP, please don't threadsit
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:46 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:46 AM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Best answer: There is a section in the documentary The Corporation that reveals the problems with Monsanto's bovine growth hormone, Posilac. (The filmmakers have uploaded the whole film to YouTube, but it is also available on DVD if you prefer to watch it that way.) If you are looking for horrifying images of dairy cows, look no further. The hormone causes the cows' udders to bloat and distend grotesquely, to the point where we see one poor cow with her udder dragging on the ground.
Bovine growth hormone is not used in every dairy farm, so it is definitely possible to buy milk from cows that didn't suffer like this. However, this particular image was very disturbing to me, and I think if you are looking for something to put you off milk and cheese, this will do it.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:14 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Bovine growth hormone is not used in every dairy farm, so it is definitely possible to buy milk from cows that didn't suffer like this. However, this particular image was very disturbing to me, and I think if you are looking for something to put you off milk and cheese, this will do it.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:14 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Beware, many of these DVDs are upsetting:
Death on a Factory Farm
A River of Waste: The Hazardous Truth About Factory Farms
On request, DVDs from The Meatrix
Fresh
Food, Inc.
Life Behind Bars (re chckens and pigs)
Meat the Truth
posted by bearwife at 12:30 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Death on a Factory Farm
A River of Waste: The Hazardous Truth About Factory Farms
On request, DVDs from The Meatrix
Fresh
Food, Inc.
Life Behind Bars (re chckens and pigs)
Meat the Truth
posted by bearwife at 12:30 PM on December 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
I was always huge into dairy and while I've been vegetarian for 10 years I never thought I could give up cheese. After watching Forks Over Knives, even though it focusses more on the human outcomes than for the animals, it really clicked things into place and have been mostly dairy free ever since.
posted by Sweetums at 7:46 PM on December 21, 2012
posted by Sweetums at 7:46 PM on December 21, 2012
I've been vegan for about 10 years. Please feel free to memail me anytime if I can be of any support, even with just recipes. My partner recently became vegan (having been vegetarian for several years). He's written below what motivated him to give up dairy with a conviction he never felt before.
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I've been vegetarian for about 8 years now; but as of about a month and half ago, I've decided to go vegan. The catalyst for me was a free screening of an outstanding documentary film called "A Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home" at the BMA in Baltimore recently. At its core, the film chronicles the stories of a handful of people who, for the most part, were born and raised within, and subsequently spent much of their professional lives in farm culture, who reached a moral turning point in their lives; the point when long suppressed qualms of conscience became, in effect, too urgent to ignore. In essence, it's a film about the transformative power of conscience; of finding the strength to live in accordance with what you innately know, deep down, to be morally right.
Apart from the raw, emotional power of these stories, the parts that really hit home the most for me were (a) the light it shed on the standard practices of the dairy industry; and (b) the systemic interconnectedness of the dairy, beef and poultry industries. It really is just one macro industry, with various limbs that mutually support each other; because of this, there really is no way to support just one of these -- e.g. dairy -- in isolation. Here's the link: peaceablekingdomfilm.org
I know this sounds trite, but this film really did change my life.
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posted by mayurasana at 8:02 PM on December 21, 2012
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I've been vegetarian for about 8 years now; but as of about a month and half ago, I've decided to go vegan. The catalyst for me was a free screening of an outstanding documentary film called "A Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home" at the BMA in Baltimore recently. At its core, the film chronicles the stories of a handful of people who, for the most part, were born and raised within, and subsequently spent much of their professional lives in farm culture, who reached a moral turning point in their lives; the point when long suppressed qualms of conscience became, in effect, too urgent to ignore. In essence, it's a film about the transformative power of conscience; of finding the strength to live in accordance with what you innately know, deep down, to be morally right.
Apart from the raw, emotional power of these stories, the parts that really hit home the most for me were (a) the light it shed on the standard practices of the dairy industry; and (b) the systemic interconnectedness of the dairy, beef and poultry industries. It really is just one macro industry, with various limbs that mutually support each other; because of this, there really is no way to support just one of these -- e.g. dairy -- in isolation. Here's the link: peaceablekingdomfilm.org
I know this sounds trite, but this film really did change my life.
-
posted by mayurasana at 8:02 PM on December 21, 2012
The book The Lucky Ones by Jenny Brown (which I recommend) has a list of films in the appendix:
Bold Native
Earthlings
Farm to Fridge
Fast Food Nation
Food, Inc.
Forks Over Knives
Our Daily Bread
Vegucated
posted by southern_sky at 11:32 AM on January 1, 2013
Bold Native
Earthlings
Farm to Fridge
Fast Food Nation
Food, Inc.
Forks Over Knives
Our Daily Bread
Vegucated
posted by southern_sky at 11:32 AM on January 1, 2013
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posted by Sidhedevil at 10:37 AM on December 21, 2012