Cows produce milk for the same reason that humans do: to nourish their young. In order to force the animals to continue giving milk, factory farm operators typically impregnate them using artificial insemination every year. Calves are generally taken from their mothers within a day of being born—males are destined for veal crates or barren lots where they will be fattened for beef, and females are sentenced to the same fate as their mothers.

The good news is that removing dairy products from your diet is easier than ever. Today there is a multitude of nondairy "dairy" products on the market, such as soy, rice, coconut and almond milk.

Wow, and the first comment goes to a PETA loon. I can just as easily find a hundred million people who will tell you that soy is the worst thing that you can eat. What regular people need is common sense compromises. We want to feed our families without breaking the bank, without supporting unnecessarily cruel farming practices, etc.

Also, don't pretend that milk is healthy and good for you. We are the only animal that drinks another animal's milk - gross. Factory farming is horribly abusive to the animal and destructive to our land. Factory farming also produces the cheapest products not the best.

Am I the only one who thinks that thoughtful consumption of dairy products is acceptable as long as we show respect to the animals we raise for our benefit?

I love milk. I love dairy products. I love meat and other animal-derived things. I detest the disrespectful way that animals are treated in Factory Farms. That doesn't mean that I have to stop consuming the things that I appreciate, it just means I need to be more careful about who I buy these things from, and how much of them I consume.

Does that make me loony? Really?

I used to be a veterinary nurse - Gray is not a PETA loon. They are exactly right. I do agree that going vegetarian or vegan does not eliminate animal suffering or ecological problems; corn, palm oil and sun-grown coffee cause horrible deforestation. But if everyone reduces their meat and dairy intake, it will do a lot more good than a handful of people going vegan. Learn where your food comes from and how it affects others.

And for the love of god, by humane-certified meat.

Didn't think this post would turn into pro and con milk discussions hehe

Personally, all I have to say is I lovem ilk and no - other substitutes are NOT milk, they don,t taste the same - so I'm going to keep drinking milk that comes from where I live, so at least I can do my part for farmers in my province. :)

Some of us are genetically well-adapted to drink milk. It's certainly no "gross"er than, say, drinking goat blood or eating monkey brains.

We are the only animal that drinks another animal's milk - gross.

I'm vegan and I find this kind of "argument" trite and ineffective. We're also the only animal that bakes pies and surfs the web.

A.Stams - I'm vegan too (that matters?) and I think it's a great argument. When I've said that to most people they give me this crazy look like "holy shit, I never thought about that before." Because most people haven't. And don't consider why we drink milk, it's just something "we've always done."

It was when I was nursing my first child that the whole thing clicked for me. Baby humans drink human milk and baby cows drink cow milk which is why I nursed until my kids were two. Now they drink water and eat their non-dairy foods to grow big and strong. Silly humans, feeding their kids with their own bodies and gardens after they invented grocery stores...

But I digress. We all need to support local agriculture. And just because I don't drink milk doesn't mean I don't go out of my way to get my eggs from the farmer's wife who works with my husband or shop at the organic market whose beef comes from a farm less than an hour away.

I mentioned I was vegan to show I wasn't coming from a "pro-animal-eating" viewpoint -- sorry if that confused you.

So you think it's a great argument because some people you know have never thought about it? That doesn't make much sense. Besides, there ARE instances of some species feeding on other species' milk (just google it) and it would probably be even more common if they had the ability to milk other animals. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm saying that "We are the only animal that blah blah blah" simply isn't an argument for anything. So what if we're the only ones?

I don't think consuming dairy is necessary for good health, and there are plenty of substitutes, which is great for our friends that don't want to or can't consume dairy.

However, you can have my cheese when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. I suppose that's a hedonistic argument, but I do go out of my way to buy my dairy from small, local producers because I care about the local economy and the environment. I also think that consumption of dairy can be healthy in moderation. Just because it's a behavior that only humans (or, rather, only some humans) have does not make it unnatural.

People can hold different points of view and avoid calling each other crazy or "gross." I'm sure almost everyone who reads this blog cares about food and where theirs comes from, which is why we are discussing it.

I LOVE diary just as much as I love soy! They both have benefits and detriments to overall health, but doesn't the word "balanced diet" mean you can eat and enjoy both in moderation?

Wow, people, this story was not about milk v. nonmilk products. It's about dairy FARMERS. As in people who work to feed us. Regardless of whether or not you eat dairy, let's focus on the story.

Part of the issue with dairy farming is that Dean Foods is one of the biggest dairy conglomerates in the nation. Farmers generally can't afford the equipment to pasteurize, homogenize, and separate their milk for the multitude of dairy products out there. So they sell to middlemen like Dean Foods, or if they're lucky to a farmer-owned co-operative creamery to process and market their raw milk. Co-ops are great because the farmers work together to set the price paid for milk. But if Dean Foods is setting the price (and they do, not the farmer)? Not so nice for the farmer. Farmers also get punished for milk with too low of a butterfat content (leftover from days when farmers would water their milk), so they get paid less for that milk.

And now that feed is so expensive? The middling-to-large-sized farmers get punished because they depend on feed for their cows because they don't have enough land to graze them all or make their own hay. When feed was cheap (due to government subsidies and cheap transportation), the system worked great. But now that all those inputs are going up? Not so much. But they can't raise their prices because they don't control the prices.

Which is why letting farmers sell locally is such a good idea. Especially if they can pasteurize on the farm (who needs homogenization? Cream top is neat!). I know there are lots of raw milk advocates out there, but pasteurization at normal heat levels doesn't destroy the milk any more than cooking with it. Probably less. Not only that, but there are farmers out there who just aren't as clean as they should be with the milk (could you keep milk completely clean when milking a barnyard animal? I couldn't). So I like pasteurization, but ultra-pasteurization is no fun.

I digress. You can blame the middlemen for breaking farmers' banks. Or thank them for keeping prices relatively low (although farmers get paid just pennies on the dollar for your milk). Your choice.