Welcome to Small Bite Sound Bites, a midweek segment of food for thought podcast where I,

your host Colleen Patrick-Gudrow, share short, succinct, thoughtful responses to typical

questions, myths, and misconceptions related to plant-based eating, veganism, and animal

protection.

You can support this podcast today by going to joyfulvegan.com slash donate.

You often hear people say you don't have to kill cows to get their milk, so what's the

ethical issue with drinking cows milk?

I'm pretty sure I said that before I became vegan.

Cows are absolutely killed for their milk.

I can't say this enough.

There is no such thing as a slaughter-free animal agriculture system.

A cow's life is only as valuable as the amount of milk she is able to produce.

When she is no longer profitable, she's killed.

It's simply not economically viable to feed, and shelter, and treat, and house, animals

for the rest of their lives, and generate no profit in return.

Be a really, really poor business model.

And farmers are in this as a business, whether she is used on a small farm, an organic farm,

a humane farm, a family-owned farm, an artisan farm, a whatever it's called farm, she

is killed.

Cattle have a natural life expectancy of 15 to 20 years, but dairy cows are sent to slaughter

at about 5, 4 years, 5 years, young.

We have no physiological need to consume the milk of another animal.

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