This morning was just like any other morning. Kids got up early, ate breakfast, did school work, headed outside for morning chores (milking & feeding calves) and we are now back in the house. We helped farmer finish milking the last of our second string of cows. We are currently milking about 130 cows. As we speak it is the kid’s nap time, today I fully intended on taking a nap as well. Instead I am sitting here in manure covered barn clothes typing this. Why? Well I received several “urgent” messages to check out the latest Mercy for Animals video.
Of course I needed to see if this is a video where they take things out of context and post it as animal cruelty OR is this the real deal. Well it was most certainly the real deal & I am angry. OK, so maybe angry is putting it lightly. Animals should NEVER be treated like this, under absolutely NO circumstances is it OK to even think about doing what was done in this video to an animal. NEVER! Did I make myself clear? These grown adults should be prosecuted, fined, jailed, etc.
I often wonder how a person could just stand there and film abuse like that. I couldn’t. These organizations wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t abuse to begin with. Do I agree with everything these organizations do or stand for, absolutely not. There should however be some laws about filming abuse. For example, all unedited footage should be turned in within 24 hours. It shouldn’t be allowed to continue just so these organizations can further their agenda. It should be against the law to release any footage like this to the general public that has been edited! I could continue but I think you get my point.
You see, our girls (cows) are our children, babies, pets, etc. We devote every day to making sure their needs are met. Clean bedding, fresh feed, fresh water, clean barns, etc. More often than not, their needs come before ours. They put a roof over our head, food on the table and clothes on our backs. Without them we wouldn’t have all that. They deserve to be treated like the queens they think they are.
This morning I was trying to get cows to come in the parlor, #83 decided she wasn’t moving without her morning scratches so I made sure she got what she wanted. Not only do I love to love on our girls but to be honest, if she didn’t get scratches, she wouldn’t move. She weights 1000 lbs. and I do not. Kind of hard to make her move if she doesn’t want to. While giving her loves, I turned around only to have #34 lick me in the face. These animals love us because they are treated well.
I am calling out all the dairy farmers. If you have an operation that requires more employees than you can keep your eyes on please put cameras on them. If you have an operation that is too large for you to manage yourself, make sure you check in on everyone spontaneously. Never get too comfortable with having others work your farm that you stop managing those people. No one is ever going to love or treat your cows exactly the way you do. Those cows are your responsibility, not your employees.
With all that said, this is not something that is as common as these groups would like you to think. This is in fact the minority tainting the reputation of good, hard working dairy farmers all across the world. Any dairy farmer will tell you that treating the girls like queens is good business. Good business = good animal care.
If you have any questions or concerns, please always feel free to ask.
Krista Stauffer
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I’m sure sorry to hear about the cruelty and wish the culprits had the conviction to stop, not just to stop because someone caught them!
I think the people that film these incidences and let the cruelty to continue as they tape should be held accountable too. There’s bad apples in every career: nurses, farmers, teachers, priests, etc….we aren’t all perfect and play by the rules and we need to be held accountable but I really don’t believe this is the way. Organizations like Mercy For Animals have an end goal to destroy animal agriculture. Like I said—these farmers that are treating their animals this way need to be punished, but Mercy For Animals and other groups go about it the wrong way.
I agree Sarah!! If they really cared they would step in.
It bothers me to no end that these groups can stand by and film/watch this type of abuse happening and not be held accountable. Then they turn around to further their agenda and profit with that material! Sickening, and in my mind just as bad as the person inflicting the abuse!!!!
This is exactly why I started blogging 4 years ago: http://theoregondairyfarmersdaughter.blogspot.com/2010/12/first-onewhy.html
I am really disgusted when I see or hear of animal cruelty. We work really hard to take care of our cows. They all have their own personalities, likes and dislikes. Bad stewardship on just one person makes it hard on every good farmer out here.
I worked on a dairy farm for 13 years and I loved it!!! We milked 3-400 cows and each and everyone had a name and a personality unique to them!! I miss working there!!