Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The "Udder" Side of the Story

A few weeks ago, I suggested agriculturalists to "friend" PETA on Facebook, just to keep up with their antics. If someone is against me, I wanna know the mud they're slingin'. Most of the posts (ok, all of them) get my feathers ruffled. But then there are posts that flat fire me up. My first example, see exhibit A: PETAs bashing of the dairy industry.


So, unless you didn't know, my family and I live on a dairy. According to PETA, our dairy is a "big dairy" or "factory farm". Any farm with over 1,000 animals is classified as a "factory farm" and thrown into a category of misinterpretation and negative associations. I think it's hard for people to understand that "big dairies" can also be family farms. In case you didnt know 97% of farms are family farms.

Originally I was going to show you the pictures PETA posted, but then I realized that would be silly. The pictures they managed to snap are misleading, and only represent a small percentage of farmers who made a mistake. PETA loves to snap pictures and publicize "all the farmers are like this".  But, that would be like me saying "I saw a man once arrested for beating and starving his dog. You have a a dog, so you must beat and starve your dog too." Obviously, that would be a false statement. Not every person that owns a dog is cruel to their pet. Same with farmers. Yes, there are people in our industry who do it wrong. Yes, if found, they get in trouble. You and I are on the same page. I dislike anyone who mistreats their animals: wether it is dogs, cows, or chickens.

It is in the farmers best interest to treat cattle right. Keeping cows healthy, happy, and comfortable will increase milk production. It's a win-win situation.

Not to mention: it's the right thing to do.


Here's a picture of one of our baby calves! A healthy, happy baby is the best baby.

And, finally for my last point: PETA says "When you buy dairy products, you're supporting this cruel cycle."



Actually, that's an incorrect statement. When you buy dairy products: you're supporting my family. You're supporting my Dad's early morning feed runs. You're supporting late nights, staying up with the one cow that still has to calve. You're supporting all day, every day, love and care towards cows.





2 comments:

  1. Thank you for doing what you do, and for sharing it online. People need to hear your story. Thank you for supporting agriculture!
    -Kelly Walter

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