Do vegans wear wool?

That’s what I don’t understand Theoddbird - I would have thought that seeking out a wool sourced from a flock reared just for wool would be more environmentally friendly that wearing clothes which have been artificially processed.

It’s a bit like chickens. They don’t want the eggs they lay and indeed abandon them once laid. Providing they are kept in humane conditions and free ranging why not eat the eggs?

I agree with Eglantine that my life is filled with ethical dilemmas which I can't really resolve. I try to lead as "good" a life as I can but it is hard work and often there are incompatible solutions to problems eg wool vs. synthetic clothes using petrocarbons and shedding plastic when they are washed. I end up being inconsistent and permanently guilty!

I am veggie edging towards being vegan but I doubt I ever will be. I realised a long time ago that we do not need meat or fish to live a healthy life. Some sheep are raised just for their wool by the way. Vegans do not believe in 'using' animals from what I understand so presume that even if a sheep is raised just for its wool they would not wear it.

Actually I’d like to correct a misconception about shearing sheep. Yes, most of our modern sheep have been bred so they do not naturally shed out their coats.

But with most breeds it’s imperatve they are sheared annually for their own good. An example of this is while walking in the Lake District earlier this year, one of our group pointed out a dead sheep, lying on its back with its legs in the air and two very distressed lambs bleating beside mum.

I recognised the problem as I’ve come across it before. The fleece gets waterlogged and the sheep can easily turn turtle when it tries to go from lying down to getting up. They then die. This happens when the fleece has grown quite thick and is solved by shearing.

Luckily this one was still alive. I grabbed it by the fleece and yanked it upright. The first time I didn’t get it right because it was so heavy with wet fleece and it turned turtle again, but the second time I managed to right it and it shot off followed by its lambs.

I only hope it dried out enough during the day so the problem didn’t reoccur.

Other problems are Fly Strike, when poo gets caught in the fleece and flies lay theur eggs on the poo. When the maggots hatch out they can then start to eat the sheep’s flesh.

So there are good reasons to shear after the lambs are old enough, usually in summer and this means the sheep don’t catch cold.

www.vivahealth.org.uk/resources/white-meat-myths/white-meat-athletes-online

Carl Lewis as well as Martina Navratilova.

Some elite sportsmen and women are vegans. Venus Williams and Lewis Hamilton for example. I think they chose veganism for the health benefits and claim it makes them fitter than before.
I expect they have assistants who prepare carefully balanced meals and provide appropriate supplements if necessary.

Would that be a bad thing? Not much of a life path, really.

The booklet is downloadable, link at the end of the article, as is this for anyone bothered about bone health.

www.vivahealth.org.uk/blog/joint-health-and-vegan-diets

Have not a lot of those species been bred as animals for meat? And therefore would never have existed if not for the meat market.

www.vivahealth.org.uk/healthfeatures/viva-mamas

A new mother and baby guide, but with information about nutrition from the start along with messages from vegans about bringing up their children as vegans.

Nfk I think you could call yourself a thoughtful or conscientious omnivore!

Missadventure I agree. As a vegetarian I don't believe in 'preaching' to people about food. If I'm asked a question I will try to answer it, but everyone has to make their own choices.

Is there a name for someone who's very picky about where her meat/milk/eggs come from?

I try to eat only organic and free range, mostly from local producers whose farms I know. I'm fortunate I know that I can do this. It does mean that I usually go vegetarian when on holiday or when eating out. Not a problem for an omnivore. Try asking where your chicken comes from in restaurants, especially chains. The answers are interesting. Bella Pasta used to get theirs from Brazil. Pizza Hut from Poland. I haven't asked lately but I doubt in either case that they were free range in woodland! My main problem is that if I ask for vegetarian more often than not it contains garlic - which I have an intolerance to!

I don't think I could ever go completely vegetarian as I'm too much of a foodie, and never vegan, but the more people do the better as it means there'll be less need for intensive farming.

Tegan I mentioned my brother was vegan at one point. He realised that he was basically existing on bread and chip shop chips and it was seriously cramping his love life! He taught himself to cook in the end, but has been vegetarian for over 20 years now.

How about the 6 spiders most people are thought to inadvertently eat during their lifetime? I'm joking, of course, but really, each individual has to do what they feel sits comfortably with them.

Tegan,
www.viva.org.uk

www.vivaactivists.org.uk/sillyquestions

I think the worry is that there may be people who just go vegan for themselves and their children without doing the research. A friend of my husbands stayed with us once; she was vegan but I noticed that she ate crisps that contained milk powder, so it made me a bit sceptical. And, of course, there is the school of thought that says grains [along with sugar] can feed certain cancers. I did try putting my dog on a grain free diet but she has become so finicky with her food I now give her anything that she will eat.

Tegan I honestly don't know what the guidance is for vegan children (or if there is any), but if I was thinking about going down that road I would certainly do my research on the internet first. I can understand your concern and would be just the same.

That's not fair harrigran. Your description of vegetarianism being "... airy, fairy, arty, farty fads" is pretty confrontational. Hundreds of millions of people are vegetarian and vegetarianism has been around for thousands of years. I was going to ignore your post because jen replied and I didn't want vegetarians to be seen as judging people who are not vegetarian or vegan. But now it seems like you think it's OK to do just that.

There we have it, the one I expected to jump on me did. I did not say I held her down and force fed her meat.

Can I ask what would be a normal daily diet for, say, a vegan child? I wouldn't really know where to start if I cut out all animal products from my diet but, as I often don't eat meat it would be interesting to take it one step further and try a vegan diet for a while.

I suppose its much easier if the parents are vegetarian or vegan too though varian . Much more difficult to get it right having to start from scratch.

My poor son is concerned that it will be difficult for him to cook seperate meals for one child, will she get the vitamins she will need? etc.

Two of my grandchildren, now aged 9 and 11, have been vegans all their lives. They are the right size for their age and build, neither fat nor thin and are amazingly energetic - more than anyone else in our family.

You shouldn't worry about vegan children being malnourished as long as their parents provide all the vitamins, etc they need. It is much easier to do that now that there are so many more vegetarians and vegans and the shops are stocking a much better range of food products.

Maddy, I am the only one in my family who doesn't have pets. They have dogs, cats, rabbits and a tortoise, but all of them have been rescued.
It's a bit worrying that so many pets end up in rescue shelters, quite often run by vegetarians or vegans.
We all give money to a horse sanctuary as well, run by vegans.

'What about all the carrots etc. which you can't hear screaming as you bite their heads off!!!!'

That's not asking a question, Monica. Questions have question marks, not lots of exclamation marks.

If people worried about plants having feelings, they wouldn't eat anything and would die off.
I suppose that's the answer to having vegans. There wouldn't be any then.