this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
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When their calf gets taken away so that you can get their milk, you bet that cow has an emotional reaction to having their baby stolen.
The vast majority of milk comes from factory farming. I wouldn't even know where to buy milk that doesn't come from factory farming.
I mean, that's fair – I expect a lot of people don't or don't bother to do the research – but that's still, definitionally, a contextual framework and isn't universal. The premise that dairy consumption is universally (in all possible circumstances) evil assumes these arguments always apply; and they don't.
You can get milk from a cow without harming the cow or violently ripping away her calf. Maybe it's difficult, etc. But it's not impossible. So such a universal argument is simply incorrect.
Can you give an example of an argument which is universal?
I mean, – if the answer is I can't – we probably shouldn't be framing our arguments universally, then; especially when there are relatively easy counter examples that disapprove the universality.
I would say that moral arguments against killing people aren't universal, because they don't apply in cases of self defense. Does that mean that it's okay to kill people? No. It means that in most cases killing people is wrong.
A cow will continue to produce milk for years after raising a calf so long as someone continues to milk her. The amount and quality of the milk will decrease, but for families in rural areas it's more than adequate and doesn't harm the cow. Symbiotic farming techniques are possible; we just choose not to pursue them.