Dairy industry in Norway

It is just different levels of cruelty.

There is lots of exploitation involved also in Norwegian dairy industry. I live here in Norway.
"Like humans and all mammals, cows need to be impregnated to produce milk. “Organic” cows are therefore repeatedly impregnated, often by a veterinary. Cows would normally live about 20 years, but due to the economics of the “organic” milk industry, they are usually slaughtered after about 5 years when they lose the ability to generate commercially-viable quantities of milk. During this short 5-year life, they are pregnant about 9 months out of every 18 to 24 months and give birth to a calf two or three times. Some of the female calves will end up as dairy cows to eventually replace their mothers and grandmothers. Most of the calves from “organic” dairy producers, however, are forcibly abducted from their mothers – who often grieve the loss intensely – and they are slaughtered when they are 6 months or 18 months old. Calves are always forcefully separated from their mother within a week.

Although some “organic” dairy cows are permitted to graze outside during part of the year, many “organic” cows never see the light of day until they are transported to slaughter.

There is suffering involved in all nonvegan choices. Only way to respect animals is by going vegan. We have no nutritional need for animal foods; and the production involves emotional suffering, physical suffering and taking the life of a sentient being with an interest of being alive. I recommend: http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2013/08/arguments-for-veganism-and-counter.html

Is a vegan diet sustainable in colder countries, Sweden ,Norway, etc?

Joey Lusk,
Also all northern countries, including Norway where I live, would easily become self-sustainable on a plant-based diet.

You can easily calculate the arable land, how much plant-based foods that can be grown and how many it can feed.
I did a calculation that a plantbased agriculture in Sweden could feed almost 80 million people: http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2013/06/kan-hela-sveriges-befolkning-leva-som.html (in Swedish)

If we start with a completely plant-based agriculture, we will eliminate starvation and poverty. See e.g. this article that I wrote about Bangladesh: http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2013/04/cause-of-injustices-in-bangladesh-eg-in.html and this article [2].

You can choose to enslave, raise and kill an innocent cow on pasture to feed one person, or you can choose to use the same area (about at least 8000m^2 per cow) to feed 36 persons for one year [1]. Potatoes and nutrition: http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2008nl/may/potato.htm

Learn more here: http://comfortablyunaware.com/index.php/blog/be-aware-the-myth-1/

In a vegan just world, where everyone cares about everyone else – humans and nonhumans, feeding all of the population will not be a problem at all!!

Which would you choose???

1. http://www.ukagriculture.com/crops/potatoes_uk.cfm ; based on 45 ton yield for one hectar.
2. http://www.drmcdougall.com/video/expert_testimonies_oppenlander.htm