Dairy Cow
I have been vegan for about 12 years so seeing animals in confinement and used for meat/dairy has always bothered me. But tonight, dh and I were watching Amazing Race online and one of the challenges was the teams had to collect eggs, butter, milk, etc. One team member had to milk a cow and it showed the milking, getting kicked by the cow and each time, it would pan to the cow’s face, showing her close-up with her number in her ear. I burst into tears. I imagined what it was like for each cow to have her new baby taken from her shortly after birth, unable to feed her baby with the milk that is rightfully theirs. Now, *I* know that those babies are probably in veal crates but that mama cow must be bewildered… and I know she is grieving her baby. And I KNOW what that feels like, to lose my baby and still be full with milk.
Matthew's name in the sand on a beach in Australia
forwardtumble said,
February 22, 2010 at 2:20 pm
the way we treat animals since the industrialisation of farming is terrible.
I’m sorry you’re having the milk paining you double, I’m so very, very sorry, Christie, and all I can do is send you lots of love and a big, big hug. It just sucks.
Love
xx Ines
sara clement said,
February 22, 2010 at 5:17 pm
I’m not a vegan…not even a vegetarian. I tried…but…my body seems to wither without meat, dairy and eggs..I got severely sick when I tried to give them up…no joke…and I’m severely allergic to soy and most grains. But…Christie…I agree with you. It would have made me cry too. That kind of practice IS inhumane. I won’t buy products from farms that practice that way. There ARE ethical, sustainable farms….but mainstream hoopla doesn’t ride that way. it sucks. I’m so sorry for your tears. I wish I could hold your hand.
And I do….from a distance.
((HUG))
bir said,
February 23, 2010 at 2:02 am
I’m not a vegan either, but I struggle with certain things, particularly meat. I grew up on a farm, and eventually (after running away to the city and dating city type boys for twenty years or so) I married a farmer and here we are. But I have also at times admired and pondered the resilience of animals when their ‘child’ is lost to them, either taken or by natural causes, and even the fact that they often abandon their baby when they know something is wrong. Natural atrision (sp?). When we take day old chicks off our pet chickens to hand raise, the hens cluck around for an hour or so, and then seem to shrug their shoulders and get on with life. How do they do that? We will never know what is in their mind, but the ‘funny’ thing is that while our hearts weep for that cow missing her calves who are indeed taken off her, realistically does she think about it at all?
Most of them have probably not ended up as veal as the best thing when talking about dairy is that the calves are generally well hand fed and brought up as dairy cows (and let’s just not go there about the ones that are not girls..) so dairying I find easier to deal with than sheep and other cattle…
Oh.. and those calves?
x
Emily said,
March 25, 2010 at 8:49 am
We haven’t heard from you in awhile. Just want you to know I’m still praying for you, and I’m worried about you. Sending much love… ((hugs))