By Tanya Darling
Recently I had two conversations (one with a vegan & one with a conscientious carnivore), which prompted me to do some philosophical thinking & research about deeper thinking about the wider implications of what I eat, specifically eating dairy products. Regarding animal compassion & the morality of eating dairy (or meat), the conscientious meat eater said this:
that he considered cows, chickens and pigs to be very successful species from a evolutionary standpoint: they have developed a symbiotic relationship with humans that has historically provided that they supply milk & eggs, to humans during their lifetime (and meat at the end of it), and in return humans have provided safety from predators, and a protected environment where they can live out (relatively long) lives with their families & communities before they give their final gift (meat), if they do. A fairly positive reality when one considers the gruesome reality for animals of prey in the wild. The nefarious & dark reality for these animals has come about more recently/post industrial revolution.
Sadly, this I think is true of most food sources today; there are grim consequences for animals, plants, rivers, etc.. That the topic of what to eat & what not to eat has become very much more complex than it was even 50 years ago (if we are truly asking thorough questions of deep/probing consequence). These conversations that I have been having with my friends, and food providers over the past couple of months has prompted many questions, and many changes for me (and I hope that this letter will prompt the same for you).
In regards to the question of which causes the least harm to animals, being a carnivore, a vegetarian (who eats dairy & eggs), or a vegan: I am shocked & ashamed that this question never occurred to me, but I never did wonder, until recently: If dairy & eggs are a product of animal fertility, what happens to the males of the species in pursuit of these food products?? The the short answer is that they are killed; in the case of male cows for beef or veal, and in the case of chickens either for sold for poultry or simply "ground up".
Well, it then occurred to me that the meat industry (from small to large farms), is inextricable form the the dairy industry. Most farms even where the dairy producing animals are well treated, in the case of cows; the calves are separated from their mothers after anywhere between 6 hours to 6 weeks old (never to see their mothers & families again) & are then sold to other farms to be raised for veal or beef. In the case of chickens, most egg farms buy their female hens from a supplier who euthanizes the males & then grinds them up as garbage (these are by no means the worst case scenarios you can find out there & I am talking about even Organic & Certified Humane farms). This makes a huge argument for conscious people who wish to do as little harm as possible in for their food to become vegans (not to mention the good environmental & global human hunger reasons not to eat meat or dairy). Not being personally ready to give up dairy & eggs (for my health & pleasure), I have started to pose a lot of new questions, & make a series of choices which will reduce the overall harm done for the food that I consume. To this end, I have begun to gather some information about the dairy that is available to us in Washington State. At this point, I have determined that certifications like "Organic", "Humane Certified" etc. while better than factory farming, are not very deeply meaningful when it really comes down to the important question of real animal compassion. What it boils down to, in my view is this: there are degrees of harm that we do as humans to sustain ourselves. As a practical tool, I have begun to grade the dairy options out there to that end.
Here is the beginning of that grading scale for milk:
Least harm to animals: Veganism
1st Tier Most Humane/Sustainable: Very small, self sustaining farm where farmers breed, & raise their own animals, and who make & market the final product (eggs, milk products, meat) keeping the families together for the entirety of their lives, who allow the calved to nurse from their mothers for at least 4 months before weaning, and provide regular fertility breaks for the animals. This could mean that the farms also raise male cows to adulthood & eventually butcher them & sell them as beef. This category also includes small to mid-sized dairies that source their milk directly from such small farms, but do not raise their own animals.
2nd Tier Humane/Sustainable: Small farms who treat their animals humanely for the entirety of their lives, but do not keep the males; they would sell the males that are born on the farm and then sold to other farms who raise them for beef but who also practice rigorous humaneness during the life & slaughter of the animals. Small dairies/creameries that source their milk mostly from small farms (who are selected specifically for their humane & sustainable farming practices)
3rd Tier Humane/Sustainable: Small to Mid-sized dairies/creameries that source their milk mostly from small farms (who are selected specifically for their humane & sustainable farming practices), but also from cooperatives when need be.
4rd Tier Humane/Sustainable: Any dairy/creamery that only buys from cooperatives/where the more detailed nuances of the farming practices are unknown/cannot be verified by the consumer, but that may have some certification: Humane, Salmon Safe, Organic, Oregon Tilth etc. (I know that this seems counter intuitive, but I am finding more and more that certifications are less meaningful than I previously imagined.)
5th Tier Humane/Sustainable: Mainstream/factory farming
Here is the beginning of that grading scale for eggs:
Least harm to animals: Veganism
1st Tier Most Humane/Sustainable: Very small, self sustaining farm where farmers breed, & raise their own animals, and who make & market all final products (eggs,poultry). The animals (chicken or ducks) are treated with rigorous humaneness & are allowed to roam free, with their families for the entirety of their lives. Males are slaughtered in the most humane conditions possible.
2nd Tier Humane/Sustainable: Small to mid sized egg farms that treat their animals with rigorous humaneness, but do not keep/raise males. These farms will purchase their chicks from a supplier, who probably euthanizes most of the males.
3rd Tier Humane/Sustainable: Mid to large size farms who do not practice much regard for the treatment of their animals, and have production as their single objective.
Dairies/Creameries & Egg Farms Rated:
I spent some time visiting the websites of local dairies, and speaking to them on the phone, here are the results for some milk/milk product & egg sources in Washington. I hope that you find this useful, please recognize that it is a very limited list, and only a beginning.
1st Tier Dairies/Creameries:
Pride & Joy Organic Dairy (raw/non-pasteurized/non-homogenized) in Granger, WA. - Madison Market. $$$$
Dungeness Vally (raw/non-pasteurized/non-homogenized) in Squim, WA. - Madison market, Whole Foods Market. $$$$
Sea Breeze Dairy/Creamery/Butcher (raw/non-pasteurized/non-homogenized) on Vashon Island, WA. (These people do it all & have eggs too.) 100% Jersey, the calfs are weaned at about 5 months, and the male cows live with their families until they are butchered & sold by the farm as beef. The chickens are allowed to live freely until they are a few months old, when it is easy to tell their sex, the females are kept to lay eggs, and the makes are butchered for poultry then sold by the farm). Columbia City/Ballard & University Farmers markets & Madison Market. $$$$
Various small farms that do not market outside of direct purchase at a farm stand/store (I am working on a list). $$$
Greekbank Farm Cheddar Cheese (milk source: Dungeness Valley for their raw milk cheese, and reliably humane small dairies for non-raw milk cheeses)- Madison Market, Whole Foods. $$
Mt. Townsend Creamery (milk source: Sea Breeze Dairy) - Madison Market, Whole Foods, Farmers markets. $$$
2nd Tier Dairies/Creameries:
Fresh Breeze Organic Dairy (pasteurized*/non-homogenized) in Linden, WA. (Holsteen & Jersey) - Madison Market. $$- $$$
Twin Brooks Dairy (pasteurized*/non-homogenized & homogenized) in Linden, WA. (Jersey) - Madison Market. $$- $$$
3rd Tier Dairies/Creameries:
Tillamook (mostly small independent farms, some cooperative) - widely available, including Costo. $$
Smith Brothers (all cooperative actually). $$
Organic Valley: Cooperative farmers in California & the North West. $$
Wilcox Farms: They only do eggs now. Hens seem to have decent life, farm seems to have decent practices, but their chick sources grind up the males and throw them away. (widely available, including Costco). $$
Stiebbers Farm: Eggs only. Hens seem to have decent life, farm seems to have decent practices, but their chick sources grind up the males and throw them away. (widely available). $$
Organic Valley: Cooperative Organic farmers in California & the North West. $$$
**While places like Wilcox & Steibbers seam to treat their animals humanely (once they get them), their chick suppliers discard male chicks when they are born (and grind them up/trow them away...I was told this verbally by Wilcox farm representative, and I am sure that Steibbers, is the same), so the action happens before the laying hens/female chicks are purchased by these farms...As far as I can tell, the only way to ensure that male chicks are not being discarded is if the farm breeds & raises all of the chicks themselves, then they typically slaughter some & keep some as roosters (for needed social structure evidently). I guess the question regarding eggs is if male chicken are any better off being "euthanized" & ground up at birth, or slaughtered after 3-4 months (the rough age that poultry is slaughtered) of life under humane living conditions...and the also, of course, the living conditions of the laying hens. If the distinction is minimal for you & you want to eat eggs, I think Wilcox & Steibbers are both decent/humane farms.
A note regarding pasteurization & homogenization: evidently there are several ways to do it, and some are more severe than others/leach more enzymes from the milk, but not all pasteurization leaves the milk devoid of all enzymes (as the raw milk people contest), while homogenization, on the other hand, strips the milk fairly thoroughly of flavor & healthful enzymes.
Nutritional notes on non-meat based diet:
Human beings need all 9 essential amino acids for optimal brain/neurological health, most non-animal based foods lack some essential amino acids (hence the idea of combining legumes & grains to make a "complete protein" with all nine essential amino acids.). Fortunately all dairy is a complete protein, so those who eat it do not need to worry about this. Also the right combinations do not have to happen at the same time (i.e. every meal, as was once believed), simply need to be present in the person's diet regularly. Although some amino acids are simply not found in a vegan diet at all, it is my understanding that those are not any of the 9 "essential" ones, and that if you get the "essential" ones, one's body will produce the others on it's own (DHA is actually one of these, but can be supplemented with algae if one so desires/needs more).
Human beings also need B12, and Iron for optimal health. Vegan diets also typically need to supplement to get adequate B12, & Iron in assimilable forms.
Some facts about vegan protein sources:
Some grains, and vegetables are "complete" proteins (have all 9 essential amino acids), and so is algae. The following foods are "complete": amaranth, buckwheat, hempseed, meat, poultry, Salvia hispanica (an obscure mexican flowering plant), soybeans, quinoa, seafood, and spirulina
The soy question is a controversy (one that is worth looking into)...I tend to treat it like junk food...mostly for fun (a topic for another discussion).
My point here, becoming a vegan is not a decision to be taken lightly, as there are very serious potential health implications to eating a plant-only based diet, if one is not armed with the right information & food resources.
Finally, I feel that it is a privilege to ask these questions, and to make better informed choices about the food that we eat, I hope that more & more people in the world will come to also have that privilege. Please forgive me for any errors that you may find in my information; I dot claim to be an expert on humane & sustainable farming or nutrition, I only wish to share these thoughts & research in the hopes that it will inspire thought, discussion & higher consciousness/personal responsibility in those who read what I have written.
I would love to see this turn into a real blog, where people could expand on the data that I have begun to collect for dairy, and add to it other foods.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely, Tanya
BIO:
Tanya Darling is a food & wine enthusiast, an avid gardener, and Western Washington resident. Tanya grew up in a fishing town in Alaska, where she learned to garden, she was first exposed to fine food and wine during her studies in France as a young woman; where she became fascinated by the interplay between wine, food, history, and cultural identity. Tanya did her undergraduate work at NYU, and was later educated in the Wine and Spirit Education Trust Diploma program. A stalwart traveler, Tanya has visited many of the great wine regions of Western and Eastern Europe as well as the those of the United States. Tanya is an experienced wine educator, who has taught hundreds of classes over the years; her love of classical wines, her passion for life, nature, and gastronomy inspire her work & teaching.
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