Be moderate, be omnivore
A farmer on Facebook asked his vegan neighbour why he wouldn't eat his free range eggs.
No answer. I've got vegetarian friends.We joke about my bacon sandwich. I also have vegan friends and we don't mention it. I'd like to, but daren't.
Maybe I should leave "omnivore" leaflets around, about how producers love animals. That's how I found "Scary Dairy," a leaflet full of extreme examples of how dairy cows live.
Some of them will be true, just as some people mistreat their pets, though not all of them. But "all farmers are cruel" so we must give up anything to do with cows – milk, cheese, butter, yoghurt and beef – and wear plastic.
Also, they say cows are killing the planet, quoting "animal farming is responsible for 14.5 per cent of greenhouse gas." So, the rest of the world is responsible for the other 85.5 per cent?
Cornell University says "a vegetarian diet uses land efficiently but adding some dairy and meat may increase this efficiency."
The reasoning is that grains, fruit, vegetables, pulses, and so on, need arable land whereas land for grazing and fodder is often unsuitable for arable, but does capture carbon.
Be moderate. Be omnivore.
Rosemary Allen is a retired livestock farmer living near Ellesmere
