There is a lot of tension in our devotee community between ahimsa dairy lovers and vegan devotees. Let us explore what each community believes, the similarities, and the differences.
Ahimsa means non-violent. Ahimsa dairies do not confine their herd to a building where they never see the sun and they are allowed natural behaviors such as living in a herd and chewing cud in a pasture. Ahimsa dairies do not slaughter the cow at the end of her milking days. When her milking days are past, she can live out her life in a pasture with other retired dairy cows. Milking is mostly done by hand rather than mechanically and dairy cows are not typically artificially inseminated on ahimsa dairy farms. Calves on ahimsa farms are allowed to stay with their mother and drink some of their mother’s milk rather than the milk substitute fed to calves on industrial farms. These calves are often allowed to naturally wean from their mothers.
Vegans on the other hand avoid using animals for food, sport, clothing, entertainment, or any other purpose. This means that in addition to not consuming any animal products, they don’t wear any animal-based fabrics like wool or leather, visit the zoo or circus, or use products tested on animals such as makeup or cleaning products. Many vegans feel that by consuming dairy that they are supporting animal slaughter and that is why they chose to abstain; as male calves are typically sold to veal farms not too long after they are born, and dairy cows are slaughtered for inexpensive meat after only a couple of years when their milk supply dips.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/ahimsa-vs-veganism/
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