COW

[Suzi888]

chooseveg.com/blog/documentary-cow/

Anyone watched this… I can’t bring myself to watch it, but it’ll be coming to cinemas shortly.

What is the best milk substitute you have tried? Specifically when added to tea, I don’t mind the substitutes in cereal but my tea tastes grim without milk.

@Staffy1

Haven’t found a good dairy free cheese. The few I’ve tried are disgusting.

Applewood and Applewood smoked - fantastic! Melts like regular cheese

placemarking

I prefer almond in tea than any other type.

It is 100% NOT vegan sensationalist propaganda

The cows ARE treated really well, there is no cruelty from the humans in the film - instead gentleness and soothing tones from what you see of the humans

They are treated WELL

Which doesn't in any way detract from the barbarity of a cows existence, it's life and its death

You can treat a cow lovely, it's still not having a great life - it's still an animal that doesn't get at a very basic level to live the life of an animal

I'm really grateful to the posters who posted about more ethical dairy milk - I'd do anything to reduce harm in this area 🙏 Thanks so much

@Suzi888

Sorry should say happy to pay a fortune for the milk from the happy cow!

There used to be a company called cow nation that did exactly as you described - sex selected breeding so virtually no male calves born (the sperm was sex selected) and babies kept with mother's and no vows killed once their yield dropped. Milk was expensive - about £1.47 per pint 12 years ago.

Unfortunately they went bust before this whole vegan/ animal welfare resolution.

I tend to stick to Alpro unsweetened soya which foams well in my aeroccino, doesn't split in tea and is inoffensive in taste. I really like oat milk and coconut but both are too high in sugar content for daily use (type 2 diabetic).

I stopped drinking dairy after being plagued by sinusitis/tonsillitis throughout my teens and twenties....... Dr at ENT clinic advised long term antibiotics; cranial osteopath did a set of head manipulations and told me to come off dairy. Within 4 weeks I felt like a human being again.

I really wish there were a non-dairy milk that I liked in tea, but they all just taste very wrong to me.

I'm a farmer and there are some aspects of the dairy industry that don't sit comfortably with me. Not the same ones you have highlighted mostly though.

Don't be under any illusion that dairy cows are being forcibly milked. Being milked is the highlight of their day and they literally queue up at the milking parlour to get in.

Anyone who works with cows on a regular basis knows its pretty much impossible to get them to do something they don't want to do.

Cows are beautiful creatures, some have lovely personalities (some don't) they do have soulful eyes, but don't try and extrapolate that to them having human feelings though.

Don't point the blame at farming, point the blame at supermarkets who have created a market environment where farmers have to use dairy animals (the same applies to milk sheep) as machines rather than farm animals.

People are always going to eat/ use milk. Even if they don't buy pints of actual milk, cheese, cream, butter, powdered milk etc and its by-products are everywhere. There will always be market for it.

Instead of making a superficial change to plant juices why not lobby the supermarkets and major food producers to pay more to farmers so that they be less intensive.

Although we all know that cost will only be passed on to the customer....

Vegan of 4 years and veggie for a long long time here!

For cheese I like applewood vegan cheese as I find this is the most versatile and melts well but you have to cover it in foil to do so. There’s also La Fauxmagerie and Honestly Tasty which were good. You have to order these online though and they are expensive, I get them for Christmas as a treat.

I saw someone say that for things like vegan chocolate and cheese the longer you go without eating the dairy versions, the better the vegan versions taste and I agree. If you try vegan cheese the day after you eat dairy one you’ll definitely find it rubbery and weird. Try it a month after eating no cheese it’ll be more palatable. I never really liked vegan cheese but I do enjoy it now.

We also drink alpro soya in this house. Only a splash in my coffee because I don’t like any milk/milk substitutes but it doesn’t curdle. If you have issues with your plant based milk curdling in your brews then I find taking it out of the fridge half an hour before needing it helps.

@angelalansburysteapot

I don't drink cows milk, nor do I eat beef. I'm not vegan but I do eat a largely plant based diet for mainly environmental reasons.

Hypothetically speaking though, if everyone decided to switch to oat/plant based milks indefinitely, what would then happen to cows? They wouldn't be bred anymore as there would be no need for them. Would they eventually die out? Or would they continue to reproduce instinctively?
What would be the reason for them - genuine question.

The same could be asked about sheep & pigs if we evolved into a largely vegan population (highly unlikely but still..)

Yes, farm animals as we know them would mainly due out. Sheep probably not but heifer and fresian cows almost certainly would, they aren't hardy and we've bred them to be quite reliant on human support. Cows as we have them have never been a wild animal and aren't really meant to exist so it would likely go back to how it was supposed to be.

Alpro do a greek version (plain) yoghurt - it's very good

It’s not offered on my home shopping delivery but seemingly it’s high in sugar! I will give it a go if I can find some though.

Can anyone recommend a dairy free Kefir? I can see Biotiful do one but their dairy one isn’t the best tbh.

The only animal products I consume are yogurt, kefir & cheese, I haven’t yet been able to make the leap to vegan but I’m hopeful.

@Christmissy

Vegan of 4 years and veggie for a long long time here!

For cheese I like applewood vegan cheese as I find this is the most versatile and melts well but you have to cover it in foil to do so. There’s also La Fauxmagerie and Honestly Tasty which were good. You have to order these online though and they are expensive, I get them for Christmas as a treat.

I saw someone say that for things like vegan chocolate and cheese the longer you go without eating the dairy versions, the better the vegan versions taste and I agree. If you try vegan cheese the day after you eat dairy one you’ll definitely find it rubbery and weird. Try it a month after eating no cheese it’ll be more palatable. I never really liked vegan cheese but I do enjoy it now.

We also drink alpro soya in this house. Only a splash in my coffee because I don’t like any milk/milk substitutes but it doesn’t curdle. If you have issues with your plant based milk curdling in your brews then I find taking it out of the fridge half an hour before needing it helps.

Yes, I think that's where lots of people go wrong - they try and replicate what the do already when a fundamental change is needed. Vegan substitutes for things aren't very healthy either as most are UHP.

@TonTonMacoute

I can’t bring myself to watch it

Well perhaps you should if you are going to make other people watch it OP! How hypocritical is that!?

Of course the irony is that what this vegan propaganda will do is drive all the small scale farmers, who treat their animals well and humanely, and which are good for the environment, out of business so that the only livestock producers who remain will be the huge scale industrial operations, that do the most harm. Plus we will be shipping in our food from overseas producers, this causing even more environmental harm.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I couldn’t agree more. Buying locally produced food is so important and small scale farmers need our support. This vegan propaganda is ridiculous,people need to spend more time in the countryside and get to know where their food comes from.

@ClaymationHeartsStillBeat

I've been drinking sweetened soya milk for over 20 years now. Cow's milk is no end of awful. can't do it. As such all my kids have been brought up on breast milk (mine) and then moved over to no milk or soya when they wanted it. (milk is for infants!).

Tesco own brand sweetened or Alpro tastes fine in tea. Asda was fine from what I recall.

Milk is not just for infants! It's biologically normal for children to breastfeed until their milk teeth fall out, the average age of weaning in countries which encourage natural weaning it 4! Not infants!

@Lovemylittlebear thanks for your note on cheese. This week we are trailling 2 types of plant and oat miles in our house and I’ve already cut out cows milk in tea and coffee. Gave up beef months ago.

Is there such a thing as a diary free alternative to cream does anybody know?

I only drink oat milk. Aldi's own brand is as good as barista for coffee and only half the price.
Really creamy on cereal too.

not but heifer and fresian cows A heifer is a young cow and we don't have many Friesian cows any more. My grandather was one of the first farmers to import Friesians from Holland in the 1930s. Before that it was mainly Ayrshire cows in this country.

@StylishMummy

If anyone had a clue about British farming - you'd see this is vegan sensationalist propaganda

Absolutely. It's fashionable to refute animal based products. Non-dairy milk is shit.

After I had my little girl I realised that I could no longer pay for the reproductive slavery of other females/mothers. I can't believe any mother could do this to another.

We drink Alpro vanilla in our house as I like sweet drinks.

Yes, farm animals as we know them would mainly due out. Sheep probably not but heifer and fresian cows almost certainly would, they aren't hardy and we've bred them to be quite reliant on human support

I don't even know where to start with this.

Heifer isn't a breed of cow, by the way.

I'm pretty sure my Blue Greys and Galloways would probably survive a nuclear bomb. They are currently out roaming over several thousand acres of fell ground. If they had human feelings (they don't) I think they would be really quite offended by the suggestion that they need humans to survive.

@RollneckJumper thank you.
@Socialcarenope I can imagine they did, these places must be difficult to manage. Would hope demand is changing, but not sure how practical or realistic it is. The costs are prohibitive and makes the product almost ‘luxury’. £20 for 125 g of cheese… I’ll be savouring every mouthful! and purchasing it infrequently!

My kids heve never drink dairy even as babies- they dislike cheese and all dairy even now as young adults.
Only ever had breastmilk, both are tall and have perfect teeth;

@scrowy

Of course the cows want to be bloody milked. Have you ever had tits bursting with milk?

I’ve used soya milk for hot drinks for the past four years.I use Sainsburys, Lidl etc as long as it’s unsweetened.I’m completely used to it and wouldn’t go back to Cows milk.

@derxa

not but heifer and fresian cows A heifer is a young cow and we don't have many Friesian cows any more. My grandather was one of the first farmers to import Friesians from Holland in the 1930s. Before that it was mainly Ayrshire cows in this country.

We have a jersey and 3 Ayrshires. They are amazing. So hardy and practicality look after themselves. Good grazers and good mothers. They have decent yields just from grass and silage with cake at milking. To be more sustainable I think this is the way to go.