By Amanda Radke

For years, vegan activists have tried to claim the moral, ethical, and superior high ground on everything from nutrition to animal welfare, to the environment. More like a religion than a dietary choice, these vegan activists in one breath will claim to have great compassion and love for animals like cattle, but in the same sentence, they will threaten to hurt your family or destroy your farm for raising beef.

It’s an interesting juxtaposition no matter how you look at it. For me, looking at dietary choices through a Christian lens, I don’t worship animals and I know the divine value of humanity. As a result, I don’t feel guilt about eating beef, pork, or poultry.

As a rancher, I understand the value of these animals and the circle of life. Everything lives and everything dies, but death with a purpose gives meaning to life.

And as a consumer, I know that every diet, whether there’s a burger on the plate or a vegan salad in a bowl, isn’t without animal death. I would argue that veganism at its true foundation doesn’t really even exist.

Let me walk you through a day in the life of thirty-something mom of three like me, and see if you can spot how a beef animal enriches my life throughout the day.

I wake up and begin my usual routine – get dressed (I’m wearing leather shoes and belt), put on some anti-aging cream, deodorant, perfume, and makeup, and head out the door. Driving to work in my pickup, I appreciate my full tires and the paved road making for a smooth ride.

Later at my desk, I’m thankful for office supplies like adhesives, dyes, inks, photo film, lamination, and glossy printing paper. Once it’s quitting time, I plan to head to a baseball game. The town is hosting a parade, too, and I hope the fireworks show is big again this year!

After the celebration, I’ll head home and pour a cup of milk into my glassware. My home is warm thanks to insulation and solid sheetrock walls. For supper, I’ll enjoy a juicy burger, with some candy for dessert.

Before I hit the hay, I’ll take a shower and shave my legs. As I lay in bed, I think to myself that it might be fun for the kids and me to make a craft with paints, crayons, and brushes. We could also do chalk on the sidewalk or paint some ceramics if we have time. I drift off to sleep feeling comfortable, full, and content.

Now, how many times did a cow touch my day? Every product I mentioned through that story was a byproduct of beef production. In fact, when we utilize an animal nose to tail, we enjoy more than 100 life-enriching byproducts to help make our daily lives just a little bit easier.

Is a vegan really a vegan if they skip the cheeseburger but still go about doing many similar activities as I recounted above?

“But I use synthetic!” they claim. Yet, have they considered the deaths and environmental impact of having to create similar products that we naturally get from a beef animal? More than that, every time a field is plowed, it displaces wildlife – birds, mice, fox, deer, rabbits, gophers, butterflies, bees, and more. Do these animal lives not matter, or is the cow on an elevated status?

These are just things I ponder as I evaluated the hypocrisy of some of the vegans sending me hate mail these days. Eat meat, or don’t; that’s not the point. The point is that it’s beyond frustrating for these activists to try to force their ideologies onto others, especially when they aren’t based on sound facts or science.

Every diet has an environmental footprint. Every diet has animal death. But humanity is worth far more than anything we put on our plate. And as a Christian rancher, my job isn’t just to take care of God’s land and His livestock, but to provide nourishing food for His people, too.

Despite the criticism, I’m going to continue to do just that.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Amanda Radke may write to her in care of this publication.