I Visited a Dairy Farm Today...
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Alex Lockwood
February 2019

I spent the day with the farmer who has farmed all his life. His family have been dairy farmers since the 1700s. He knows things have to change... We shared a lot of similarities. Except the one that matters to the cows. For the farmer, humans are more important. Animals are ours to use.

a beach

I spent today on a dairy farm. I saw how dairy is produced and how the cows are treated. I saw the calf who was a day old, ear tagged, already taken from his mother, bottle fed colostrum, in a pen about 4x3 feet. He was a beef calf, and will be sold in 3 weeks, eaten by 18 months. I saw all the other calves, separated by age, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks. The male Holsteins aren't worth anything and will be dead soon.

I spent the day with the farmer who has farmed all his life. His family have been dairy farmers since the 1700s. He knows things have to change. He and his family are left wing, do voluntary work to care for others suffering depression, are worried about climate change. They made vegan stew for lunch and got in some vegan ice cream for after. It would be easier if they were not decent. But they are. They were open and welcoming.

We shared a lot of similarities. Except the one that matters to the cows. For the farmer, humans are more important. Animals are ours to use.

I was there for a new book project, to try and make sense of the obstacles that are in the way of farmers shifting to non animal agricultural practice. But the only obstacle that matters is the belief most humans hold: that we are more important; that we deserve a life free from being someone else's property, while we can continue to treat other beings how we want. It is not a belief I share.

Worse, it's the belief that has led us to this shitstorm edge of catastrophe.

F#ck it was hard to see the calves. After that I needed a walk on the beach and watched the sunset.

 



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