Reader Question: Is Organic Milk Cruelty-Free?

Is organic milk cruelty free?

It can be, though not necessarily. Dairy being organic and dairy being cruelty-free are exclusive from one another. It can be cruelty-free but not organic, and organic but not cruelty-free. It could be both and it could be neither. I would define dairy as being cruelty-free if it met the following criteria at minimum:

• Calves are not taken away from their mother
• Bull calves are not discarded
• Calves are not sold for veal
• Cows are not contained in pens
• Growth hormones/antibiotics are not used
• Cows are hand-milked or at least personally supervised during machine-milking
• Cows are not artificially inseminated
• Cows are not sold to butchers who bleed them to death, skin them alive, etc.

I’ve probably missed things that I should have added, but I do hope this helps.

God Bless.