6 ms·

they might have not owned a bull but rented one when needed.

karatinversion 5y ago
But they still get half their calves with no long term future as dairy cows - so someone will end up eating most of them.
- watwut 5y ago
  That would give you the rare meat. No one claims they were vegetarians. But, if they killed and eate 0.5 young males per cow per year, that would make the meat available once per year per cow. They could dry it or make sausage or whatever, but that does not make it a lot.
  - progre 5y ago
    Good thing, there is this other animal that basically eats garbage and shits fertilizer. The byproduct of this is a surpus of pork a few times a year.
    - watwut 5y ago
      The claim people take offense for is specifically about beef - not about pork. But really, at least based on what my grandmother said, meat was luxury item once a week thing. Cooked in away that uses it to the max. They were relatively well off small farm family, they were not poor. The traditional food I read about when I read about historical lifestyles was also largely non-meat. (Not to be confused with vegetarian, like bacon etc was part of it) The eat meat everyday thing we have going on was not a thing in the past. It requires huge amount of animals being raised and killed, meat to be stored in freezers and so on.
TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
How is that a response to the parent comment? Milking cows need to be having calves regularly so they keep producing milk. Not owning a bull doesn’t make that problem go away.
- OJFord 5y ago
  Is that true? I know nothing about the dairy industry, but human wet nurses aren't constantly pregnant so they can do their job, as I understand it production's just a gradual response to the 'request'.
  - stormdennis 5y ago
    Good point, cows are usually "dried out" prior to being impregnated again.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
    True, good point. It appears you may be right to some extent, but a bit of reading indicates dairy farmers to to have their cows birth a calf every one year to 400 days. Older practices may vary, haven’t looked in to that.

But they still get half their calves with no long term future as dairy cows - so someone will end up eating most of them.

watwut 5y ago
That would give you the rare meat. No one claims they were vegetarians. But, if they killed and eate 0.5 young males per cow per year, that would make the meat available once per year per cow. They could dry it or make sausage or whatever, but that does not make it a lot.
- progre 5y ago
  Good thing, there is this other animal that basically eats garbage and shits fertilizer. The byproduct of this is a surpus of pork a few times a year.
  - watwut 5y ago
    The claim people take offense for is specifically about beef - not about pork. But really, at least based on what my grandmother said, meat was luxury item once a week thing. Cooked in away that uses it to the max. They were relatively well off small farm family, they were not poor. The traditional food I read about when I read about historical lifestyles was also largely non-meat. (Not to be confused with vegetarian, like bacon etc was part of it) The eat meat everyday thing we have going on was not a thing in the past. It requires huge amount of animals being raised and killed, meat to be stored in freezers and so on.

TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago

How is that a response to the parent comment? Milking cows need to be having calves regularly so they keep producing milk. Not owning a bull doesn’t make that problem go away.

OJFord 5y ago
Is that true? I know nothing about the dairy industry, but human wet nurses aren't constantly pregnant so they can do their job, as I understand it production's just a gradual response to the 'request'.
- stormdennis 5y ago
  Good point, cows are usually "dried out" prior to being impregnated again.
- TheSpiceIsLife 5y ago
  True, good point. It appears you may be right to some extent, but a bit of reading indicates dairy farmers to to have their cows birth a calf every one year to 400 days. Older practices may vary, haven’t looked in to that.