Below was a comment recently posted on one of my previous blogs, and it really made me think about animal agriculture and how our relationships with consumers have evolved in the past few years thanks to HSUS and PETA.....check out the comment:
"I've been reading through this blog (is this called a thread?) with interest, and glad to see that after some initial emotional arguments, an intelligent exchanging of views was achieved - we don't all have to agree with each other, but we do need to stop branding every person the same way - not all dairy farmers are cruel, not all animal activists are raving vegan extremists. Good to have respect for someone elses point of view....
....I could go on and on, but in the end, I am not a vegetarian, well not full time anyway, I have my moments, but I do stand strongly for the ethical treatment of animals, and I do believe that animal activists are an important part of our future, as they help to keep improving our systems and educating the public, and work with us as producers to make the world a happier place for animals. All I would ask of animal activists is that they do actually do their homework before launching personal attacks on people - I think the wider population would actually take them more seriously if this was the case."
This reader really hit home on those 2 points...thanks to animal activists we have worked to make our farms and ranches better and we have a total industry of agriculture, really begun to educate consumers about where their food comes from. I know on our own farm we work hard to give the best care to our animals, but I will admit there are probably places for improvement that an activist might be able to see, that we might miss. In addition, I might not have this blog if it wasn't for activists who make consumers acknowledge that they really don't know where their food comes from anymore. Thanks to activists I have the honor and privilege to share with consumers and readers alike about the daily happenings on our farm, and that's awesome! So thank you animal activists for allowing me to have this great blog!
Showing posts with label HSUS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HSUS. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Our Response to ABC story tonight.
Like other proactive dairy farmers, I will also post my opinion about the news story that aired on ABC tonight titled "Got Milk? Animal Rights vs. US Dairy Industry".
First, let me set the story straight, we at Orange Patch Dairy and everyone of our dairy farming neighbors put the welfare and well being of our cows first everyday. We constantly strive to care for our animals, because the better job that we do caring for our cows, the healthier and happier they are. Happy cows make higher quality milk in greater quantities. If you read my blog you know first hand how hard we work to put our cows needs, some days, before our own.
At Orange Patch Dairy, we do not use tail docking as a management practice. Industry research has shown that tail docking, which was originally done to help keep cows clean, neither benefits nor harms cows. Being a null practice, we decided long ago that we would not dock tails to maintain cow cleanliness on our farm, but instead clip the long hair on the end of the tail. The short hair prevents the cow from getting full of manure and covering herself with it. We feel a hair cut is better than losing the aesthetic of a cow tail. The tail, while it looks pretty does have a purpose-swatting flies in the summertime, providing cooling, and something to hit that itch the cow can't reach.
We do however dehorn calves on our farm. I watched this video, and frankly saw only a couple things I would change. Cows with horns actually have a recessive trait, whereas cows naturally without horns (polled) have a dominant trait. The problem in the dairy industry is that the AI (artificial insemination) industry has not been able to produce enough popular polled bulls to help us breed the horn trait out of our traditional dairy cows (we expect this to change shortly). As a result, we have cows with horns. Horns need to be removed for the safety and protection of the animal, the facilities and the people that raise them. Cows with horns have the ability to do serious harm to each other, destroy buildings and fences, and harm the people that work with them. The injuries can be pretty gruesome. Horns can also break resulting in terrible infections or even bleeding to death. For these reasons, we remove our animals' horns.
At 14 days of age we dehorn. At this age the horns are very small and easily removed. The older the animal is, the harder the horn is to remove. We have our vet remove horns, mainly because he owns a gas powered dehorner, and we don't. We could do this but having a vet remove horns assures us that the horns are removed. We halter the calf, pull her out of her hut and make sure that we have her tied securely-so not to hurt ourselves and herself. We do not use a anesthetic at this time. We have discussed this practice with our vet and he believes that the injection would inflict more pain than the actual removal of the horn. We use a gas powered dehorner to cauterize the horn tissue surrounding the horn bud, and after a few seconds of brief pain we can pop the bud out. The calf is untied and returned to her hut. I know that this process causes little to no long term pain or damage, because by the time we walk back to the calf hut my calves are looking to have their ears scratched, neck rubbed and yes, even their head scratched. The benefits of doing this process at a young age is that they will never notice that it even happen. Years ago horns were removed when cattle we much older and they had to be cut out, leaving large wounds that could get infected or even bleed out. Sometimes this method was unsuccessful-and horns would grow back. Cauterizing horns, when done correctly is 100% effective. Days after dehorning calves, all that remains is a small scab, that will shortly fall off...and mainly itches, which means those darn calves come back from extra head scratching.
Dehorning is not a "large dairy" or "factory farm" practice, it is a universal practice amongst ALL dairymen. Dehorning is not cruel, but it is a practice which allows the animal to live a long healthy life-safe from being hurt by other herd mates. I believe that ABC should have done more homework before airing this story. The vast majority of American dairy cattle live the good life-comfortable environments, clean environments, excellent medical care, balanced nutrition, and care beyond their needs. A few isolated incidents do NOT paint an accurate picture of the dairy industry, don't believe me, see my YouTube Channel, my blog, see the blogs of those that I follow-all show dairymen caring for their animals EVERYDAY, 365 days a year.
If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask....I will answer them the best that I can.
First, let me set the story straight, we at Orange Patch Dairy and everyone of our dairy farming neighbors put the welfare and well being of our cows first everyday. We constantly strive to care for our animals, because the better job that we do caring for our cows, the healthier and happier they are. Happy cows make higher quality milk in greater quantities. If you read my blog you know first hand how hard we work to put our cows needs, some days, before our own.
At Orange Patch Dairy, we do not use tail docking as a management practice. Industry research has shown that tail docking, which was originally done to help keep cows clean, neither benefits nor harms cows. Being a null practice, we decided long ago that we would not dock tails to maintain cow cleanliness on our farm, but instead clip the long hair on the end of the tail. The short hair prevents the cow from getting full of manure and covering herself with it. We feel a hair cut is better than losing the aesthetic of a cow tail. The tail, while it looks pretty does have a purpose-swatting flies in the summertime, providing cooling, and something to hit that itch the cow can't reach.
We do however dehorn calves on our farm. I watched this video, and frankly saw only a couple things I would change. Cows with horns actually have a recessive trait, whereas cows naturally without horns (polled) have a dominant trait. The problem in the dairy industry is that the AI (artificial insemination) industry has not been able to produce enough popular polled bulls to help us breed the horn trait out of our traditional dairy cows (we expect this to change shortly). As a result, we have cows with horns. Horns need to be removed for the safety and protection of the animal, the facilities and the people that raise them. Cows with horns have the ability to do serious harm to each other, destroy buildings and fences, and harm the people that work with them. The injuries can be pretty gruesome. Horns can also break resulting in terrible infections or even bleeding to death. For these reasons, we remove our animals' horns.
At 14 days of age we dehorn. At this age the horns are very small and easily removed. The older the animal is, the harder the horn is to remove. We have our vet remove horns, mainly because he owns a gas powered dehorner, and we don't. We could do this but having a vet remove horns assures us that the horns are removed. We halter the calf, pull her out of her hut and make sure that we have her tied securely-so not to hurt ourselves and herself. We do not use a anesthetic at this time. We have discussed this practice with our vet and he believes that the injection would inflict more pain than the actual removal of the horn. We use a gas powered dehorner to cauterize the horn tissue surrounding the horn bud, and after a few seconds of brief pain we can pop the bud out. The calf is untied and returned to her hut. I know that this process causes little to no long term pain or damage, because by the time we walk back to the calf hut my calves are looking to have their ears scratched, neck rubbed and yes, even their head scratched. The benefits of doing this process at a young age is that they will never notice that it even happen. Years ago horns were removed when cattle we much older and they had to be cut out, leaving large wounds that could get infected or even bleed out. Sometimes this method was unsuccessful-and horns would grow back. Cauterizing horns, when done correctly is 100% effective. Days after dehorning calves, all that remains is a small scab, that will shortly fall off...and mainly itches, which means those darn calves come back from extra head scratching.
Dehorning is not a "large dairy" or "factory farm" practice, it is a universal practice amongst ALL dairymen. Dehorning is not cruel, but it is a practice which allows the animal to live a long healthy life-safe from being hurt by other herd mates. I believe that ABC should have done more homework before airing this story. The vast majority of American dairy cattle live the good life-comfortable environments, clean environments, excellent medical care, balanced nutrition, and care beyond their needs. A few isolated incidents do NOT paint an accurate picture of the dairy industry, don't believe me, see my YouTube Channel, my blog, see the blogs of those that I follow-all show dairymen caring for their animals EVERYDAY, 365 days a year.
If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask....I will answer them the best that I can.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Congrats for surviving this Week of Winter!
Oh I couldn't be more excited for warmer weather than what I am right now! In case you didn't notice, I haven't posted a blog in over a week. There's a GOOD explanation for that-we were taking care of our cows the best that we could in some pretty miserable Minnesota weather. At last count we put in 3 16-hour days, 2 15-hour days, and 3 12-hour days. It's been tough, no lie about that. Our biggest challenge was just making sure that all of our cows, heifers and calves were protected from the wind and snow. Frost bite is just as dangerous to cows as it is to humans....we take the winter very seriously. We bedded in all animals everyday with lots of extra straw, thereby keeping them dry and clean. We moved cows that were due to calve in the coming days, into a heated pen to assure us that any calves born would be warm and frost-free. Accidents do happen, where cows are not smart enough to stay out the wind and decide to have their calves out in the open, in a snow bank, and in the wind-those calves usually die. Knowing this fact-we didn't want to take any chances-we want all live calves, so mothers got moved inside. We used special teat creams/lotions in the milking barn to protect teats on cows and heifers that could be at risk of freezing as well. The temperatures dipped below -30 a couple of times over night, but wind chills were out biggest enemy: -45! Add some fluffy, fresh snow and we had a good mess on our hands. One night we were even unsure if we could make the 7 mile trip from the farm back to our home since most local roads were closed...but we made it.
It's days like those that I really wonder how animal rights activists can accuse us on "not caring" for our cows!?!?! Seriously!?!?!? If I didn't care for my cows, I would have stayed at home, wrapped up on the couch with a warm blanket instead of sporting 5 layers of clothing and a ski mask to care for my animals. Those days were really hard on us mentally. Jon and I asked ourselves often-"Why is it that we are doing this?" We do it because we love our cows, and we strive everyday to give them our very best-they deserve it! Farming is not easy, but we do it because we know how important it is to grow, raise, and produce safe, quality, wholesome food for the world. So, I guess to rest my case....say thanks and congrats to a dairy farmer today....especially if they survived a week of winter like we did.
And, be grateful for the +30 temps coming this week!
It's days like those that I really wonder how animal rights activists can accuse us on "not caring" for our cows!?!?! Seriously!?!?!? If I didn't care for my cows, I would have stayed at home, wrapped up on the couch with a warm blanket instead of sporting 5 layers of clothing and a ski mask to care for my animals. Those days were really hard on us mentally. Jon and I asked ourselves often-"Why is it that we are doing this?" We do it because we love our cows, and we strive everyday to give them our very best-they deserve it! Farming is not easy, but we do it because we know how important it is to grow, raise, and produce safe, quality, wholesome food for the world. So, I guess to rest my case....say thanks and congrats to a dairy farmer today....especially if they survived a week of winter like we did.
And, be grateful for the +30 temps coming this week!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Letter to Elected Officials....please don't tell us how to farm!
This letter was to me by the Dairy Business Association. I agree that Government Officials need to gain producer input before telling them 'How to Farm'. Please read and share with others.
Dear Elected Official,
My name is Laura Daniels, I am a dairy farmer from Cobb, Wisconsin. My family has been farming for just under 4 years, we love this business and savor the chance to raise our children on a farm the way we were raised. We rotationally graze our jersey cows while implementing the very latest science has to offer. We believe that the diversity of farms in Wisconsin is our greatest strength, we seek to learn from them all, big, small, young, old, etc. We take pride in the way we care for our cattle, land and employees with gentleness. I am writing to you today to let you know about some concerns I have about the future of our family dairy farm. I am not writing to complain about the price, or to beg you to do something to help us make it through this financial crisis.
I would imagine you are hearing a lot about that these days. However, I am worried about special interest groups telling me or any other farmer how to farm. We really do have enough to worry about these days, we do not need a kick while we are down.I have just returned from the national meeting of the American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology, known as AFACT. I had the chance to talk to farmers from across the country I am alarmed that farmers from California have had their businesses changed so drastically by Prop 2, and now there is legislation to regulate whether or not the farmers dock the tails of their cows. Even more frightening is the fact that farmers in Ohio have no choice but to negotiate with the Humane Society of the United States! HSUS is threatening the Ohio farmers that if they don’t do what they demand they will bring prop 2 to Ohio.
I ask that you please do the research on HSUS and know that they seek the end of animal agriculture, only a tiny portion of their funding goes to help cats and dogs in shelters, much of their budget is aimed to put me and every other farmer out of business. Since they are so well funded they can win at ballot initiatives, and it is exactly the exposure they need to generate even more funds. HSUS has set up an office here in Wisconsin and has registered a lobbyist at the capital of our dairy state. I do not believe for one second that their agenda here will be limited to dog fighting.
Please please talk to farmers if agriculture comes up in any discussions. We can help you understand the extreme measures we are taking to care for each and every one of our animals. We can and do make the right choices for their care. We need you to understand and trust that we are the ones who should be making changes to do an even better job as time goes on. We do not need regulation in this area, we are honest and hard working people. Wisconsin dairy farmers have made more advancements in animal care over the last decade than the 50 years before that. We did this with no government intervention, no mandates and no standards set by others. Please let the people who know the cattle/livestock best make the decisions for their care.
Thank you for your time and please let me know if I can help in any way.
Laura Daniels
Heartwood Farm
Cobb, WI
lauradaniels@uwalumni.com
Dear Elected Official,
My name is Laura Daniels, I am a dairy farmer from Cobb, Wisconsin. My family has been farming for just under 4 years, we love this business and savor the chance to raise our children on a farm the way we were raised. We rotationally graze our jersey cows while implementing the very latest science has to offer. We believe that the diversity of farms in Wisconsin is our greatest strength, we seek to learn from them all, big, small, young, old, etc. We take pride in the way we care for our cattle, land and employees with gentleness. I am writing to you today to let you know about some concerns I have about the future of our family dairy farm. I am not writing to complain about the price, or to beg you to do something to help us make it through this financial crisis.
I would imagine you are hearing a lot about that these days. However, I am worried about special interest groups telling me or any other farmer how to farm. We really do have enough to worry about these days, we do not need a kick while we are down.I have just returned from the national meeting of the American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology, known as AFACT. I had the chance to talk to farmers from across the country I am alarmed that farmers from California have had their businesses changed so drastically by Prop 2, and now there is legislation to regulate whether or not the farmers dock the tails of their cows. Even more frightening is the fact that farmers in Ohio have no choice but to negotiate with the Humane Society of the United States! HSUS is threatening the Ohio farmers that if they don’t do what they demand they will bring prop 2 to Ohio.
I ask that you please do the research on HSUS and know that they seek the end of animal agriculture, only a tiny portion of their funding goes to help cats and dogs in shelters, much of their budget is aimed to put me and every other farmer out of business. Since they are so well funded they can win at ballot initiatives, and it is exactly the exposure they need to generate even more funds. HSUS has set up an office here in Wisconsin and has registered a lobbyist at the capital of our dairy state. I do not believe for one second that their agenda here will be limited to dog fighting.
Please please talk to farmers if agriculture comes up in any discussions. We can help you understand the extreme measures we are taking to care for each and every one of our animals. We can and do make the right choices for their care. We need you to understand and trust that we are the ones who should be making changes to do an even better job as time goes on. We do not need regulation in this area, we are honest and hard working people. Wisconsin dairy farmers have made more advancements in animal care over the last decade than the 50 years before that. We did this with no government intervention, no mandates and no standards set by others. Please let the people who know the cattle/livestock best make the decisions for their care.
Thank you for your time and please let me know if I can help in any way.
Laura Daniels
Heartwood Farm
Cobb, WI
lauradaniels@uwalumni.com
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