The manure debate.
Posted by scratch on Oct 20, 2007 · Member since Jun 2006 · 9 posts
What do you say to someone who says "You can't eat those carrots, farmers used animal manure for fertilizer, and you said you don't eat anything that has animal products in it." ?
I have one but I don't wan't to gross anybody out.
say you buy organic :D
It's impossible to be truely vegan. Probably 90% of what we use has some link to animal use. We live in a animal use world and unless you're going to leave that world entirely, you'll be useing animal products somehow, someway.
I guess it's a question of how far you want to take it since you'll never be 100% vegan. Wool is another great example.
I agree that it is unvegan but also unavoidable. I wouldn't have a problem with it if the manure came from animals in, e.g., a sanctuary; but cattle farmers benefit economically from using / selling their manure. Buying a lot of manure is no different from buying a little meat; it all winds up paying someone to hurt animals.
As to wool, though, that's somewhat more avoidable. And if you think wool is relatively harmless, you might want to watch the following video:
http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=wool_pink
I don't have a problem with it...it's waste that cows can't use.
Yea, I don't have a problem with manure either. I mean, 1. cows do not use it, 2. cows do not want it, 3. they might even appreciate clean stalls and pasteur.
Now, obviously, I have a big problem with the factory farm run offs. But, no one uses this for manure. It would kill the crops - seriously. So, the manure must come from farms which are actual farms. As opposed to factories.
Plus, as someone pointed out, it's impossible to be 100% vegan and cruel free. Eat grain, and some mice, bunnies, etc. are killed when the grain machines come in. Then there is the using bees for pollination of crops issue. Not to mention, each time we use gas ... it's just like using regular sugar. Bone char is used in oil refineries.
To people who always ask me silly questions like "well, it's not vegan because of the manure" ... I always explain why I'm vegan, i.e. health and ecology. Neither of which are contradictory with manure. And, in fact, since I'm not opposed to small, sustainable farms and people eating meat from there - it's not a contradiction for me here either.
You can always explain that you impact the market by avoiding the "big" deals, i.e. animals and their products. And that manure doesn't directly hurt the animal, i.e. no one is killing it for manure or stealing its milk for manure.
I think that was just a way to get at scratches goat.
(I don't think they really cared about the manure it was a way to make fun (or undermine) vegetarianism).
I think that was just a way to get at scratches goat.
(I don't think they really cared about the manure it was a way to make fun (or undermine) vegetarianism).
Probably! As Katherine Hepburn's father advised her when she turned 21: "If you keep your cattle on a thousand hills, it won't be easy for someone to get your goat." ;)
I don't have a problem with it...it's waste that cows can't use.
That's kind of silly anyway....If you think about it cows, horses, and bulls are actually vegetarian(They usually use there manure to grow food)....although some do feed those animals the remains of other dead animals(causing disease or death in those animals) If things were as they should be those animals would be pooping out nothing but grass and oats and such....