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Is Milk Vegan?

  • Writer: Emanuele Bortolotto
    Emanuele Bortolotto
  • Jul 16
  • 8 min read

Updated: Sep 6

As an investigator of our strangest human habits, I am beginning a new investigation into a substance so common, so deeply ingrained in our culture, that we have almost forgotten how profoundly weird it is. I am, of course, talking about milk. 🥛

Milk. It’s the white, watery liquid that we pour on our cereal, splash in our coffee, and are legally required, I think, to give to small children so they don’t fall apart. It has been marketed to us with a level of relentless, quasi-religious fervor that is truly breathtaking. We’ve seen the celebrities with their milk mustaches, the ads promising us bones of steel, and the wholesome pictures of happy cows frolicking in sun-drenched meadows. Milk, we are told, is nature’s perfect food.

But is it? And more importantly, is it vegan? The question seems so obvious it’s almost a joke. But the more I looked into it, the more I realized that the story of milk is not a wholesome bedtime story. It is a strange and brutal tale of biology, industry, and some of the most successful marketing of all time. So today, I’m launching a full-scale investigation. Is milk vegan? Let’s find out.


A Biological Reality Check: What Is This Stuff, Anyway?


Before we can get into the ethics, I felt it was my duty to understand the biology. What is milk? I’ve read a lot of very clever science books on this, and I’ve decided they make it sound much more glamorous than it is.

Milk is a lacteal secretion. It is a nutrient-rich fluid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. Its one and only biological purpose is to be the perfect, custom-designed first food for a newborn baby of that specific species. Cow’s milk is for baby cows. Goat’s milk is for baby goats. Dog’s milk is for puppies. And, presumably, human milk is for human babies, though I have seen a few bodybuilders on the internet who seem to disagree.


This led me to my first profound and deeply unsettling discovery of this investigation. As a species, we are a bit of a freak of nature. Humans are the only species on Earth that regularly consumes the milk of another species, and the only species that continues to drink milk after infancy. We look at a giant, 2,000-pound bovine, an animal we have nothing in common with, and we think, "Yes, I would like to drink the liquid it makes for its lost child." When you stop and think about it for more than five seconds, it’s one of the weirdest things we do. 🤨



The Dairy Industry: A Deeply Unsettling Field Report


This is where the vegan argument really kicks into high gear. The problem, for them, is not the milk itself, but the entire, sprawling, and often brutal industrial system that is required to get that milk from a cow’s udder into your latte. I decided to investigate the standard, legal, and routine practices of modern dairy farming. It is not for the faint of heart.


Act I: The Cycle of Forced Pregnancy


The first thing you have to understand is a simple, biological fact: cows, like all mammals, do not just magically produce milk all the time. They produce milk for one reason: they have just had a baby. So, to keep the milk flowing, you need a constant supply of new babies. In the modern dairy industry, this is achieved through a process of repeated, yearly, artificial insemination. A dairy cow’s life is a relentless cycle of being forcibly impregnated, giving birth, and then being milked, over and over again.



Act II: The Great Disappearance


Once the calf is born, a new problem arises from a business perspective. This tiny, new creature wants to drink its mother's milk, which is a direct threat to the farm's profits. So, within hours or days of birth, the calf is permanently separated from its mother. My investigation confirmed that this is a source of profound, documented, and audible distress for both the mother and her baby. They will often call out for each other for days. It is a routine, but nonetheless heartbreaking, part of the process. 💔


Act III: The Diverging Fates of the Children


The separated calves now face two very different, and very predetermined, paths.

  • If the calf is female: She is often raised to become the next generation of dairy cows, destined to enter the same cycle of forced impregnation and milking as her mother.


  • If the calf is male: He is a useless byproduct to the dairy industry.He cannot produce milk. He is, from a purely economic perspective, a waste product. He is either killed shortly after birth and sold for pet food or cheap meat, or he is sold to the veal industry. The veal industry exists as a direct consequence of the dairy industry. The male calves are often raised in tiny, individual crates to restrict their movement and keep their muscles anemic and pale, before being slaughtered at just a few months old.



Act IV: The Final Destination


The mother cow will spend the next several years of her life in this cycle. But her body, under the immense strain of constant pregnancy and high-yield milk production, will eventually begin to break down. When her milk production declines to a point where she is no longer profitable, usually around 4 to 6 years of age, she is considered "spent." Her natural lifespan could be over 20 years. She will be sent to the slaughterhouse, where her low-grade meat is often used for ground beef.


This, in a nutshell, is the ethical vegan's case against dairy. They argue that a glass of milk, a slice of cheese, or a scoop of ice cream is not a harmless, wholesome product. It is the end result of a system of reproductive exploitation, maternal grief, and the inevitable slaughter of both infant and adult animals.


The Great "Happy Cow" Myth: A Marketing Investigation 🐄


"But I only buy organic, free-range milk from happy cows!" This is the common and hopeful refrain from a public that would, quite rightly, rather not think about the things I just described. So, I decided to investigate what these comforting labels actually mean.

  • Organic: This label primarily refers to what the cow is fed. It means she was fed an organic, non-GMO diet and was not given routine hormones or antibiotics. It is a standard for the inputs, not necessarily for the animal's welfare. The cycle of impregnation, separation, and slaughter? Still the foundation of the business model.

  • Free-Range / Pasture-Raised: These labels mean the cow had "access to the outdoors." This can mean many different things, from a beautiful, open pasture to a small, muddy lot attached to a giant barn. While it is certainly better for the cow's quality of life than being confined indoors 24/7, it does not change the fundamental business model.

My conclusion as an investigator is that these labels, while they may represent a "less bad" system, do not represent a "cruelty-free" one. From a strict vegan perspective, they are different shades of the same exploitative system. The cow is still a machine, just a machine with a slightly nicer view.


The "Strong Bones" Conspiracy: A Look at the Science (and the Lobbyists)


This is the part of my investigation that made me the most cynical. We have all been raised on the belief that cow's milk is essential for strong bones. It is a piece of nutritional dogma as sacred as "eat your greens." But where did this idea come from? And is it even true?

The link between calcium and bone health is real. But the idea that dairy is the only, or even the best, source of calcium is the result of one of the most successful and long-running marketing campaigns of all time. The dairy industry, through powerful lobbying groups, has spent decades and billions of dollars convincing governments, schools, and the public that milk is an essential food group.The "Got Milk?" campaign, with its endless parade of milk-mustachioed celebrities, is a masterclass in modern propaganda. 📸


But what does the actual science say? My investigation found a much more complicated picture.

  • The Osteoporosis Paradox: Some of the largest long-term studies, like the Harvard Nurses' Health Study, have found that higher milk consumption is not associated with a lower risk of bone fractures. In fact, some studies have shown the opposite. This is a paradox that is still being debated by scientists.

  • The Plant-Based Calcium Crew: Calcium is a mineral. It comes from the earth. Cows get it by eating plants. Humans can do the same. Leafy greens (like kale and collard greens), fortified plant milks, calcium-set tofu, and beans are all excellent sources of highly bioavailable calcium.


  • The Lactose Intolerance Reality: The majority of the world's adult population—around 65%—is lactose intolerant. This means their bodies have naturally stopped producing the enzyme needed to digest milk sugar after infancy. This is the normal, default state for adult mammals. The fact that a food makes the majority of the people who eat it sick should, I think, be a bit of a red flag. 🚩


The idea that we need to drink cow's milk for our bones is, in my opinion as an investigator, a myth. We need calcium, and there are many, many places to get it.


Questions from the Internet: "Okay, but what is the absolute best plant-based milk?"


This is a question I have investigated in exhaustive, and some might say obsessive, detail. The answer is that there is no single "best." It depends entirely on your priorities.

  • For Nutrition (Protein & Calcium): Soy milk is the undisputed champion👑

  • For Coffee & Creaminess: Oat milk is the king.

  • For the Environment: Oat milk and soy milk have the lowest environmental footprint.

  • For Low Calories: Unsweetened almond milk is your guy, though it is a nutritional ghost town.


Questions from the Internet: "My doctor says I need to drink milk. What do I do?"


My investigation has shown me that many doctors, while brilliant in their own fields, have very little training in nutrition. If your doctor expresses concern, the best approach is to be prepared and polite. You can say, "I understand your concern about calcium and Vitamin D. I am ensuring that I get those from fortified plant milks, calcium-set tofu, and a Vitamin D supplement." This shows them that you are being responsible and have a plan. You are not just vaguely "not drinking milk"; you are actively consuming the key nutrients from other sources.


Internal Link Break!


The entire ethical argument against milk is just one part of a much larger, and surprisingly consistent, philosophical worldview. To understand the core ideas of speciesism and sentience that lead a person to cry over a glass of milk, you have to read my full, in-depth investigation: [What Is Ethical Veganism?]


The Conclusion: A Conscious Uncoupling from the Cow


So, after this deep and slightly disturbing investigation, we return to our original question. Is milk vegan?

The final verdict from my investigation is a clear, unequivocal, and resounding no.

It is, by its very definition, an animal product. And its production, even in the most idyllic-looking "happy cow" scenario, is inextricably linked to a system of reproductive exploitation and eventual slaughter that is fundamentally at odds with the vegan philosophy.


The good news is that we are living in a golden age of alternatives. The modern plant milk aisle is a beautiful, chaotic, and delicious symbol of a food system that is rapidly changing. You do not need to drink cow's milk to be healthy. And once you untangle the cultural nostalgia from the biological reality, you might just find that you don't want to. 🤔

Of course, milk is just the liquid form of the problem. For an investigation into its even more addictive and controversial solid form, check out my report: [Is Cheese Vegan? An Investigation into the World's Most Beloved Dairy Loaf].


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