Ethical Myths of Raising Ruminants

Fanatical groups have done considerable damage over the last few decades by casting ruminant animal husbandry into shadow. Vegans and animal rights activists share their disgust and concerns in emotionally manipulative ways, creating tons of myths and misinformation that too many people believe are true.

***Note: Not all buttons are active links! See below for details.

With ever-expanding urbanization and people being multiple generations removed from the farm, there’s bound to be plenty of misinformation surrounding animal agricultural practices.

It’s not just that most people have no idea where their food comes from or how it gets to their plates. Certain fanatical interest groups also perpetuate particular myths and misinformation to “encourage” people to join their belief systems.

Animal rights activism is one such belief system. It holds that all animals should never be used for food, clothing, entertainment, or any other purpose; they must be treated just like other humans and should be free to live their own lives as they see fit. Veganism goes further still as a way of life that seeks to cause the least harm to animals “as much as possible and practicable,” being more than just a diet that excludes any animal products.

However, these beliefs largely misinform the public about how ruminants behave, think, and are treated on farms and ranches. Animal rights hold that animals must be treated like humans because they possess the same intellect, rationality, and sentience as human children.

Therefore, all farms and farmers–and anyone associated with them–are regarded with disgust and contempt. Farmers get the brunt of the vitriol, being accused of cruelty to animals. Insulting allegations range from raping cows and killing babies (calves and lambs) to enslaving and murdering animals “who just wanted to live.” Activists regularly claim we only eat animals to satisfy our taste buds, citing that meat and dairy cause nothing but disease and have no nutritional value to our diet.

Ultimately, these are guilt-tripping, emotionally shocking statements that attempt to get people to stop eating and using animals. Telling anyone who will listen to “go vegan” is often presented as a “choice,” but their do-or-die language says otherwise. “You can’t choose to eat someone that didn’t choose to be murdered for your taste buds,” activists often quip.

To their credit, however, it is good to show people that meat, milk, wool, and other animal-derived products come from real, living, breathing, sentient beings, not a factory or a warehouse. But that’s the only credit these people deserve. How they display such truths is, at best, questionable!

Emotional manipulation falls incredibly short of the intended target; this must be admitted. Forcing people to abstain from eating and using animals by playing with their emotions using graphically descriptive wording and visuals only creates fear. Fear can easily be conquered with knowledge and information. Teaching people where their food comes from and how it’s grown or raised achieves a different objective because it creates inspiration where fear cannot. People often resent past decisions that were made out of fear and manipulation. Many ex-vegans can attest to that.

The truth is that animals—domesticated ones in particular—still need their human caretakers to provide for them from birth to death. They rely on us to make logical and rational decisions on their behalf for the benefit of their well-being. We don’t do it because it suits our self-interest, we do it because we are concerned about their welfare. 

I often tell vegans that farmers cannot make a profit off of abusing and torturing their animals. This angers them to no end, but I’ve yet to have one of them come up with a good argument that thoroughly and factually refutes this statement.

Additionally, humanizing animals (aka anthropomorphism) does a gross disservice to them. It completely disrespects who and what they are as their specie. They do not share the same comprehension of life, death and freedom as we humans do.  Therefore, just because they are sentient beings does not mean they are also sapient.

Below are the commonly heard (and repeated) pieces of misinformation regarding dairy farming, meat production, raising sheep and goats, and raising ruminants on farms in general. Each button links to a specific post to that respective topic. However, other issues found in Myth Articles may also pertain to that topic, exploring subject matter that deserves more in-depth discussion.

The following links discuss dairy production with cattle since it’s the most popular type of dairy foodstuff in the world (and easily found in any grocery or convenience store), and it’s a prevalent, provocative target for vegan activists. However, please note that much of the myth-busting information also applies to goat and sheep milk production. Much of what is done with dairy cows is also commonly done with goats (does) and sheep (ewes).

This section applies to all ruminants “harvested” for meat: beef cattle, cull dairy cows, veal calves, dairy beef, bison, feeder lambs, goats, deer, elk, moose, and more. The primary focus is on farmed ruminants for the purpose of meat production, not hunted big game. Therefore, we will discuss the related ethics and moral arguments.

Animal activists have always argued against killing animals for food, citing its cruelty and analogy to homicide in humans. It’s important to address each of these dogmas, showing where and how they are wrong, and how those arguments are perfectly designed to attempt to ignite guilt and disgust in anyone who eats meat.

What isn’t covered in the above sections is included here. The biggest concern is raising sheep for wool and the perception that baby lambs and goat kids remain small, cute, and innocent forever.

The ethics and welfare around raising ruminants for meat, milk, and wool are pervasive and, at times, contentious, sometimes generating arguments about what is best or ideal for these animals. For vegan activists, all farms are cruel no matter how well they treat their animals, but animal sanctuaries are superior. The main reason is what happens at the end of those animals’ lives: being sent off to slaughter and using their bodies for humanity’s “selfish” benefits instead of addressing the animals’ needs, wants, and desires.

The links below cover the most popular ethical conundrums, being the enslavement of farm ruminant animals, tying strong and repetitive analogies to the Holocaust, allegations of overcrowding and tiny-cage-confinement, the “cruel mutilation” of ruminants via dehorning and castration, the wanton carelessness of farmers of animal welfare for the sake of money, and the gross misunderstanding that all ruminants are just gentle, peaceful (and dumb) animals.

Note that these cover what wasn’t covered above. Ethics around reproduction and post-natal care can be found in the first section above about dairy production, as this is the most common area where this topic is discussed.

Feeding and grazing ruminants is a whole different ball game when it comes to ethics.

Most ethical concerns people express centre around the freedom to roam and graze on green pastures at all times as opposed to being confined to a barn and having feed brought to them. 

However, people are also concerned with what ruminants are fed, namely high-protein diets, diets containing grains like corn, industry by-products, soybeans, and vitamins and minerals. Often, when a farmer posts a video about their dairy cows living in big, expansive barns, viewers wonder why cows aren’t out on grass. 

There are also some dastardly, ridiculous myths about antibiotics and growth hormones. For example, people have been led to believe that animals are constantly fed both of these for higher milk production or increased muscle mass, and in such high doses that animals are “pumped full of [antibiotics/hormones].” Therefore, the meat and milk must also have such high amounts to be very unhealthy.

When it comes to grazing ruminants, ethics are centred primarily around the environmental implications of grazing practices, rather than the activity of putting ruminants out to pasture to eat grass. These don’t fall into the myths category so much as they do into valid concerns for the environment.