Animal Abuse is NOT Acceptable!

Today we watch as another attack on the dairy industry was unleashed.  A video with some disgusting animal abuse was released, and portrayed as "an industry standard".  I can confidently say that this is NOT the case!  Dairy farmers care for their cows, whether an organic farmer or a conventional farmer, a small farm or a large farm....dairy cows need to be cared for and LOVED!  Yes, I said loved.  We love our cows, we care for them everyday and we often put their needs before our own.  Watching this video was heart wrenching! I encourage you to NOT watch it, its not for the weak of stomach.  For the news I read tonight the employee in question has been fired and facing 12 counts of animal abuse charges, other employees are being investigated and the dairy farmer in question is working diligently to revamp an apparent lapse in management.  Looks to me that they are taking the right steps, its just a shame that it happened in the first place. 

Jonathan and I discussed tonight what we would do if we discovered an employee (even though we currently do not have one) abusing our cows.  I name our cows, to give them a personality, and I believe that also makes it harder for someone to hit them.  Jonathan uses numbers instead of names, but he also respects and loves our cows.  If we were to see an employee abuse a cow, we would fire them instantly, and then call every dairy farm in our county to make sure that they never work with cows ever again!  It's abosultely unacceptalbe, and we know that our neighbors and fellow dairy farmers would stand with us.  Please check out the video below, which I filmed tonight while I was pushing up feed and bringing in the cows to the parlor.  I was fired up and decided that I needed to show that our cows are loved and respected everyday.  They need to stay calm and know that they can trust us.  So check it out!