An Ethical Decision: Should Vegans and Vegetarians Take Medications?

If you are concerned about animal exploitation in medicine, you may have refused certain treatments that have put your health at risk. This article discusses the dilemma that many vegans and vegetarians face in accepting medical treatment. It suggests a pro-animal and pro-health approach.

Better for You, Better for the Cows

There is no good reason for legislation that prevents farmers and their customers from being able to work out the details of when, where, and how milk will be purchased.

Big government should not be making decisions that interfere with our right to eat and drink what we chose!

Texas Real Milk is working on a bill that would legalize the purchase of raw dairy products at an agreed-upon location other than the farm. Find out how you can support them by signing up for action alerts on their website.

Protect Our Freedom to Decide What We Will Eat

Anyone interested in getting Big Government to stop its Gestapo-type raids of American farms should read this post on  The Journal of Natural Food and Healing. My husband and I are so happy eating raw cheese and drinking raw milk! I had to do without dairy for 50 years because the processing makes milk so nutritionally unsound. Now that we have access to unpasteurized dairy products, I get have them again! It is not fair to deprive people in other parts of the country the same health-giving right to enjoy raw dairy.

I remember a time when honest farmers were free to make a living and to share the fruits of their labors (and those of their animals) with anyone. The Hershberger Family is living in a different reality--a horrible one that threatens their right to live and thrive on their farm. They are not selling cocaine, for Christ's sake! Why don't the law-enforcement terrorists in Wisconsin turn their attention to matters that threaten our safety and freedom, like illicit drug trade, illegal immigration, theft, murder?

 I miss an American where individual freedom to tell the truth is not given up inch by inch to malignant political correctness. 

I miss an America where citizens can decide what is safe for them and their families to eat. Producing raw milk and cheese and selling it should never be a crime anywhere! 

I miss an America where people have access to prescription medicines if they and their doctors decide they are worth a try--without the omnipotent FDA telling them the medicine is too risky, forcing them to die instead of having hope. I miss an America where honest doctors are not afraid to help people in pain. Now, they live in fear of the DEA putting them in jail! The Association of american Physicians and Surgeons has given the following advice to physicians: “Until wrongs are righted and procedural changes are made, physicians have little choice other than to be unusually suspicious of new patients, to require unnecessary and expensive tests, to waste time on excessive documentation, or to turn away suffering patients, even if they think the patients may not find anyone else to treat them.” They advise doctors not to get into pain management, further warning that “Drug agents now set medical standards."

I miss an America where the customs and rights of hard-working, tax-paying people are as important as those of criminals and illegal immigrants and where free-enterprise and the freedom to make an honest living is not hounded, over-regulated, and restricted into a thing of the past.

Here are some kinder choice ideas

One lady's adventure--no trips to the grocery for one year! I have returned to vegetarianism for the same reasons she has stopped buying from the grocery store. Eating the meat and eggs from animals that lives such horrible lives cannot be good. I don't begrudge anyone their meat, but it is possible to buy from local farmers and ranchers so that kinder choices are made. Thanks for this article, full of resources.

Eating Bread Without Guilt

Maybe the reason bread used to be considered the staff of life was that it did not contain all the processed ingredients that grocery-store bread does. I have gathered my own wild sourdough starter here at our country home north of Stanton, Texas. It is much more reliable than one I had cultured when we lived in the city.

Who knew that bread could be considered so good for you? Sourdough bread offers many health benefits that yeasted bread cannot, and true sourdough has no commercial yeast added. Read on to find out about healthy bread.

Vegetarians and Plant-Based Vitamin B12

Vegetarians need to be thoroughly educated about nutrition. You can't get everything from plant-based foods...specifically, vitamin B-12. I was a vegetarian for about 30 years and paid little attention to whether my diet was adequate. I now have some damage to my optic nerve probably from anemia. Find out more about plant-based sources of vitamin B12.

Another Kind and Healthier Way to Get Milk

My husband and I have started to buy and enjoy raw milk products. I have not been able to have dairy in a very, very long time because of bowel problems, but I can have raw milk and cheese with no reaction!

Because of my strong concern for animal welfare, I wanted to find local sources of raw milk so that I could satisfy myself that the animals are well treated. As a result, we bought a share in a goat and we get a gallon of goat's milk weekly. It is not legal, in Texas, to buy raw milk from the market or have the farm deliver it. You have to pick it up at the farm where you own the share.

Here is a Raw Milk Fact Sheet from farmandranchfreedom.org.

We found our local source of raw milk by Googling raw milk and our city in Texas. We are also buying vegetable shares there--fresh, vine-ripened, organic fruits and vegetables. What could be better?

Texas Dairy is Kind to Its Cows

A Texas Milk Producer, Promised Land Dairy, Is Kind to Its Dairy Cows

My quest for milk producers that were concerned about cruelty to animals led me to research Promised Land Dairy. Their milk is available in my local HEB grocery store in Midland, Texas. I am so pleased to share with you what I learned about the kind treatment of dairy cows by this Texas milk producer.

Promised Land Dairy Cows Are Allowed to Graze

Factory-farm dairy cows are reputed to live in filthy, crowded conditions. Promised Land dairy cows are provided with food at the barn, and are allowed to graze freely in the pasture.

Promised Land Dairy Cows Are Allowed to Raise Their Calves

Factory farm milk producers keep dairy cows pregnant (to keep them producing) and then separate them from their calves almost immediately. Factory farm calves are often slaughtered for meat, sometimes when only a few hours old (veal).

Promised Land dairy cows raise and nurse their calves naturally. Mother and baby stay together and they lie around in the pasture together. When female calves are old enough, they join the other dairy cows in the herd. Male calves are sold to individual Texas purchasers. None are sold to factory farms or auction houses.

After raising their calves, at Promised Land, these Jersey cows are allowed a vacation to rest before getting pregnant again.

Promised Land Loves Its Dairy Cows

Promised Land Dairy is a Texas milk producer. Promised Land’s dairy cows are all Jersey cows. Promised Land puts quality above profit concerns by using Jersey cows. Jersey cows produce more nutritious milk, though they don’t produce as much milk as other dairy cow breeds.

Promised Land and its Texas ranchers have a special regard for Jersey cows and they feed them a “balanced diet to produce the best milk and healthiest animals possible. The cows are also treated with the best practices that assure humane and ethical treatment of each and every cow.”

Promised Land: An Executive Vice President That Cares

As I was researching this article, I came across a post on the website for Country Hills Veterinarian Clinic that shows the love Gordon Kuenemann, Executive Vice President of Promised Land, has for his dairy cows. He thought he would have to euthanize a Jersey cow that had a lump on her nose. He was told by a vet and several professional ranchers that it was cancer. He loved the cow enough to get one last opinion. The dairy cow was ultimately diagnosed with an infected dry socket from a broken tooth. She had surgery and a long recovery but recovered. Mr. Kuenemann said, “Dr. Patin cared for our cow as much as we did and he was relentless in his efforts to save her and get her back to pasture.”

No Tail Docking Allowed

Factory farm milk producers sometimes dock the tails of calves only a few days old. It is a painful, brutal practice that is done without anesthesia. Besides suffering the pain of amputation, without tails dairy cows are helpless to protect themselves against biting flies. The claimed benefit is to avoid contamination of udders.

Promised Land does not dock tails of its dairy cows.

Summary

My concern about animal cruelty by factory farm dairy producers caused me to search for Texas milk from dairy cows that are treated well. My HEB grocery store in Midland, Texas, carries milk from Jersey cows from Promised Land Dairy, a Texas-based company that cares about its dairy cows. The dairy cows are allowed to raise and nurse their calves, their tails are not docked, and the calves are not sold to factory farms or auction houses. They are fed nutritious diets and they are allowed to roam freely in the pasture. Talking with the Executive Vice President convinced me that these Jersey cows are loved and well treated. Promised Land is now owned by a corporation but operation management has not changed. I will check periodically to make sure no animal cruelty practices are taking place, but for now I am convinced that this company treats its dairy cows with respect, and even love.

DISCLAIMER:

I am in no way associated with nor do I own shares in Promised Land Dairy. My sole concern in writing this article is to provide information to others in Texas who are concerned about animal cruelty by factory farm milk producers and want to buy milk from happy, healthy dairy cows.

Sources:

No author given. The Way Milk Used to Taste. Promised Land Dairy.

No author given. Dairy. Vegan Peace.

Laura Bramble. Facts About Cow Mistreatment. eHow.

No author given. Factory Farms: Dairy Cows. Vegan Outreach.

No author given. Testimonials. Country Hills Veterinary Clinic.

No author given. Jersey Cows. Jersey Cows.

No author given. California Bans Dairy Cow Tail Docking. The Dairy Site.

No author given. Shedding Light on the Treatment of Dairy Cows. Humane Society of the United States.