Kind veal. OxyMORON anyone?

I really shouldn't read these articles - all it does is rile me up.

I can't believe how much of this article is just ridiculous, hypocritical and oxymoronic (yep, that's a word).

Check out some of these quotes if you are a masochist or you hate cows.


What if, under the right circumstances, eating veal were actually more ethical than shunning it?

I have no words for this one.


For example, one common consumer complaint is that the animals are killed so young. But veal calves are in fact older than chickens, turkeys and pigs and about the same age as lambs when they are slaughtered.

Don't chickens get killed at 6 weeks? Is a 6 week old calf considered old? Why are they comparing them anyway? Does that make it ok?


Most important, dairy cows must give birth to provide milk. Their male calves are unsuitable for beef production and too costly to keep on the farm. "It's a resource that needs to be utilized," said Nancy Pritchard, who raises calves at Smith Meadows Farm in Berryville, Va. Or to put it more bluntly, as producer Sandy Miller of Painted Hand Farm in Newburg, Pa., does: If you consume dairy, you should eat veal.

Ok, Nancy and Sandy are right, the two 'resources' are inextricably linked. Isn't the answer to produce/consume neither, not both?


The animals are not raised in confinement and live their whole lives with their mothers on open pasture.

Their whole lives? Their whole lives which are cut short whilst they are still babies?


The industry spent years trying to convince consumers that veal was another white, bland meat. "Veal from an authentic cow-calf relationship is pinker," Strauss said. "But the richer, redder color is your assurance that it's humane and compassionate."

Compassionate? What's compassion got to do with bringing a life into the world to kill it?


In 2006, celebrity chefs including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall championed a Good Veal campaign, which argued that eating humanely raised British veal prevented the calves from being either shipped to continental Europe, where animal-welfare standards can be less strict, or killed shortly after birth. "It's a more responsible way for everybody, including the animal," Armstrong said.

Yes, I'm sure the calves would choose this over the other unmentioned option of not getting killed at all.

How's that for a good news story?