Originally Posted by pinkfairy245:
“I think to try and persuade others of bad conditions that dairy cattle are kept in is atrocious. i rarely write on these boards just tend to read. But your statements seem to be based on rubbish! I can not comment on the conditions of free range hens, as i do not know any chicken farmers.
However your description of dairy cattle, being kept in poor conditions, seems to be just you mouthing off trying to persuade people to share your views.
I thought i would give the other side. My family up until 2 years ago, were cattle farmers, for beef. Every November we bought 200 (only a small farm) calfs. These were put in the barns, with lots of hay, and warmth. They were each individually fed milk with buckets with teets. (look a little bit like a rubber willy sticking out the side of a bucket!) They were then weaned on to milk with out teets, but if they couldn't manage it were always kept on teeted buckets until they could. Eventually they moved on to hard food and were kept in these sheds until spring. (they were very happy and comfortable in these sheds) In the spring, my favorite bit was watching them ho[p skip and jump into fields! they always look like little lambs playing! here they used to stay until around late summer when they would be sold on to another farmer, who would keep them until they reached slaughter weight. Then the whole circle started again.
Our calves were all loved, sometimes too much. One had to be put down once. He was removed to a small shed first to see if he would recover without infecting other calves. He was a calf i will always remember, i named him galaxy! he was so cute ! i always used to hug him most! I was only young! But it was when he was put down, because he was getting better and it just wasn't worth the money, my step dad held him as he was put down and came out of the shed with tears in his eyes/
I'm sorry im babbling. What I am trying to say is, you may believe that animals are kept in rough conditions. Although we are a tiny farm in comparison to some. I know farmers who have thousands of acres, my best friend is from a dairy farm. Their herd is huge, but i see nothing wrong with what they or any of the other farmers ( alot) are keeping their animals They are looked after well, kept in warm sheds in winter, out in fields in summer. Yes their calves are taken away very quickly. But this is much kinder, as a mother and calf do not have time to form a strong bond. Separation after a longer amount of time causes get distress and is so cruel.
So in summary again. Ideas of rubbish conditions, cruelty etc in the majority of cases is rubbish. And its amazing how often the bad side of british farming is shown but the greatness of it is never. I just wanted to big up our farmers! and although you may be vegan and not drink milk, dont put a big mucky thumb print on when talking about really the centre of good british food, farming.
sorry! so sorry!”
To be honest I hardly commented on the conditions which is what you are criticising me for. I actually said I wouldn't mention the conditions. I was also talking aboug dairy farming. I just noticed you were not.
I said that dairy cows are constantly kept pregnant (otherwise there's no milk) Is that not true?
I said that calves are taken away from mothers very quickly - you agreed. Although I disagree with your comment that you were being kind. Ask any human mother if it was easy for them to give up a baby taken away from them at birth.
I said the unwanted calves were slaughtered - you agreed. You said they were sold to a farmer who kept them until they had reached slaughter weight.
I don't think any of the above is being 'kind' to animals. Maybe we have different views on 'kindness'
Maybe your cows were kept in good conditions but there is plenty of video and eyewitness evidence to suggest the contrary elewhere. I can put the links up if you like. The cows are not 'actors' in these video's they're real.
But what I soon discovered was that this was just one of the harsh realities of dairy farming Milk, of course, comes from female cows but, with Nature still producing an inevitable 50-50 split of the sexes, that means any dairy herd will produce an awful lot of male calves.
Traditionally, such animals might have been reared for veal or bully beef but neither of those products is in fashion at the moment.
And because cattle bred for milk production will never produce a good steak, the value of male calves from dairy herds has fallen close to zero. Hence, the growing number of calves being killed simply because it makes no economic sense to keep them
From the filmaker who made the programme shown on Channel 4 called 'The Lie of the Land' I got the article from the Mail. I only chose the mail because I get criticised for putting up links from veggie sites although it's funny that it's only veggies who get accused of propoganda. If the picture of happy cows frolicking in the fields and having a wonderful life isn't propoganda then I don't know what is.
Can I recommend this
report?