Chandanrai - welcome to the forum!
I was a vegetarian myself (consuming no meat, but dairy and eggs) for about 15 years.
Then, about 10 years ago, I was alerted to the fact that in modern animal husbandry, it is a standard practice that cows are impregnated as soon as they are able to become pregnant, their calves are taken from them and either also induced to the circle of the dairy industry, or slaughtered for meat and leather if they happen to be male. Without becoming pregnant, a cow does not give milk, and in order to keep her "milk production" high, she has to be made pregnant again as soon as the first calf is born. And most dairy cows are killed when they are "spent", i.e. their milk yield declines, after a short fraction of their natural lifespan.
This is clearly not in line with the belief that animals should not be killed or tortured for our food, but most people consuming dairy are simply not aware of this standard practice.
So for me the decision was quite clear - soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, hemp milk, vegan cheese, tofu instead of paneer, olive oil instead of ghee - there are so many plant-based alternatives out there that I can comfortably and healthily live without consuming dairy products ever again, so why should I?
Mind you - I am aware that there are concepts like "Ahimsa milk" and so on that claim to take care of male calves and let them live out their natural lives peacefully, but those can not even provide the smallest fraction of a percent of global dairy demand, so IMO they are mainly there to make people consuming dairy feel better about it...
I was a vegetarian myself (consuming no meat, but dairy and eggs) for about 15 years.
Then, about 10 years ago, I was alerted to the fact that in modern animal husbandry, it is a standard practice that cows are impregnated as soon as they are able to become pregnant, their calves are taken from them and either also induced to the circle of the dairy industry, or slaughtered for meat and leather if they happen to be male. Without becoming pregnant, a cow does not give milk, and in order to keep her "milk production" high, she has to be made pregnant again as soon as the first calf is born. And most dairy cows are killed when they are "spent", i.e. their milk yield declines, after a short fraction of their natural lifespan.
This is clearly not in line with the belief that animals should not be killed or tortured for our food, but most people consuming dairy are simply not aware of this standard practice.
So for me the decision was quite clear - soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, hemp milk, vegan cheese, tofu instead of paneer, olive oil instead of ghee - there are so many plant-based alternatives out there that I can comfortably and healthily live without consuming dairy products ever again, so why should I?
Mind you - I am aware that there are concepts like "Ahimsa milk" and so on that claim to take care of male calves and let them live out their natural lives peacefully, but those can not even provide the smallest fraction of a percent of global dairy demand, so IMO they are mainly there to make people consuming dairy feel better about it...
