• Ephera@lemmy.ml
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    17 days ago

    The longest was probably the vegetarian → vegan pipeline.
    My position was that ‘employment’ of animals was humanely possible, if you genuinely treated them like you’d want to be treated.

    It was until I read how cows need to basically be kept continuously pregnant, that I realized there was just no way.
    I believe, you could have a bite of cheese every year or so, if we don’t do forceful impregnation, but at that point, why even bother?

    • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
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      17 days ago

      I mean maybe eggs, if allowed to roam and given their shells back. But modern chickens are just absolutely genetically ravaged by centuries of breeding for absurd egg output and massive growth.

      Before domestication they’d lay about a dozen a year. Now they lay once a day or so.

      • Lumisal@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Chickens always gave a lot of eggs. That’s why they were popular since ancient times. As long as they had surplus food, they start laying eggs. A dozen a year is just misinformation - that’s only in the wild, during spring because that’s when they have a surplus a food. If humans feed them every day, then they lay eggs because they always have extra food.

        We raised free roaming wild chickens. The hens had a high up coop we’d close to keep safe from predators that they’d return to on their own at night.

        • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
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          17 days ago

          A dozen a year is just misinformation - that’s only in the wild,

          That’s likely true, but I also have serious doubts that a chicken completely untouched by human breeding would output like the breeds bred to lay even if given unlimited food. I also doubt their bodies are made for such production.

          • Lumisal@lemmy.world
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            17 days ago

            They still lay about 24 eggs a month, sometimes more sometimes less depending on the temperature and if there’s a rooster around. Again, we had the wild breed of chicken (Gallus gallus). We also had guinea fowl and ducks.

            It’s an animal that can reproduce a lot. Don’t know why people find that hard to believe but don’t bat an eye at the reproduction rates of rabbits.

      • didntbuyasquirrel@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        I had to explain to someone recently that the person who told him chicken is vegan was fucking with him. He was genuinely still a little confused after.

        There was a crazy amount of people conflating organic with vegan when that fur hat J6 guy went to prison and asked for a special diet too.

        • Prison Mike@links.hackliberty.org
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          17 days ago

          I generally don’t mention it if I can help it, or I just say I don’t eat animal products. But people still have a hard time figuring out basic things like honey is an animal product.

          Look, I just don’t want to disturb the animals if I can help it, alright? It’s just super unnecessary for my survival.

    • Schmoo@slrpnk.net
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      17 days ago

      The US government stores over a billion pounds of cheese in enormous caves. I think we can probably get away with reducing production quite a bit.