But doesn't [directly] kill any sentient being. Yay! <milk production still abuses said animals bred for production>

As aesthetically pleasing as I find it I still can't go totally vegitarian. I have however and somehow released my eating of beef. Tiny steps, right?

As aesthetically pleasing as I find it I still can't expect everyone else to go totally vegitarian. But I think we may have to edge there over the coming decades as it's so wildly inefficient.

edit: pedantry

Cows only produce milk for their young. A milk cow is constantly bred to produce young which she then produces milk for. We want the milk, so we tale the calf away from the mother. Male calves are mostly useless and are killed young for veal. Some of the females are kept to replenish the herd.

Make whatever choices you want, but cows milk is not something that just drops out of cows.

Very true. Thanks for the reminder. Even goats have the same situation. I guess the truest non violent solution would be to milk soy beans or nuts. At least no one can hear empathize with them as fellow sentient beings.

Even in the production of vegetables and grains many sentient beings are killed. They just happen to be mostly insects or smaller mammals.

Try going into a garden without stepping on anything, or using a thrasher without killing a single thing.

That's why Buddhists don't get too crazy with the whole vegetarian thing, most eat meat (albeit not necessarily in our North American super-size me portions)...

> But doesn't [directly] kill any sentient being. Yay! <milk production still abuses said animals bred for production>

Historically consumption of milk is more about efficiency in turning feed -> nutrients, not necessarily about non-violent principles. Even in the production of vegetables, sentient beings are killed all the time (just incidentally).