I realize now that in my edit and re-edit I lost the thread.

Basically the reply was that cruelty was never the point (except for rich people, like hereditary nobility. They often revel in needless cruelty) the point was survival.

That's less an issue to the modern Western world, but is still an issue in a bunch of areas.

Remember that we're less than a century into even being able to have semi widespread veganism.

For thousands of years, vegetarianism either came with a serious risk of nutritional deficiency, or was supplemented with milk and cheese.

So rejoice that it's even possible to remove animal products from your diet now. Just know that it's still not possible for the entire world.

Until it is, dairy farmers will continue to mitigate and harms that they can, because a happy cow is a productive cow.