Ahimsa farming is an ancient system of farming still practiced in India and other places today. Ahimsa is the Sanskrit word for non-violence or doing no harm. Ahimsa farms produce both milk products and vegetables or grains. Cows are at the center of this system, but unlike modern dairy operations, the cows are protected and even treated as family. The baby calves are allowed to be with their mothers and nurse from them. Any extra milk produced by the mothers (of which there is usually plenty) is kept for human use. Sometimes cows even give milk without having ever been pregnant. This does not happen on traditional western farms because of the emotional stress the cows feel from separation from their babies, members of the herd being taken away for slaughter, poor living conditions, etc. But cows who are given comfortable living conditions and are treated as part of the family may spontaneously give milk as a sign of affection for the humans caring for them. If the cow is desired to become pregnant she is allowed to mate with a bull. Rape racks and artificial insemination are never used.
Female calves will grow up to be part of the milking herd. When they reach an age where they no longer produce milk, they are allowed to retire, remaining on the farm in the company of other cows. Male calves are never killed for meat. They are trained to perform work around the farm. They learn to perform services such as pulling plows and carts. This allows vegetable fields to be plowed and harvested without the use of expensive machinery and fossil fuels. The manure from the cows and bulls also serves as a free and readily available organic fertilizer for crops on the farm. Thinned and blemished produce not able to be sold can also be given to the cows as treats.
Thus ahimsa farming is the most ethical means of obtaining animal proteins, and with it comes the opportunity for economical and ecologically sound vegetable and grain production.
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