Farm Abuse with Calves - Hanya Awan

For many farmers, selling good quality products comes from sustainability and the

the health of animals such as chickens, cows, sheep, and many more. For farmers, some of their high-quality products can cause many successful sales, jobs and, most of all, a high status. From time to time, farmers try their ultimate best to put products on the food market such as milk, eggs and butter that are usual dairy products from special labels that attract the public. The labels "free-range", "organic" and "fat-free" can be beneficial for those who purchase the goods and consume them or eat them; however, many people are not aware of the dark tragedies that occur inside these farmhouses and warehouses that produce foods with "health" benefits, which usually originate from farms. Many farmers have abused cows and have killed them in the most brutal ways when the cows do not produce the goods properly, such as milk.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Australian calves known as "bobby calves" are sent to be slaughtered or are killed on farms in their first week of life so that the milk that belongs to them can be collected and sold to humans. According to Animals Australia, over 2 million calves have been slaughtered or killed within the past 5 years, starting that the numbers only continue to rise as more need for food supplies also increases. The calves from as young as 5 days old are typically separated from their mothers and are loaded into trucks and other vehicles that send them to sale yards or slaughterhouses. The calves are also required to transport in a very unsafe and hazardous way. For example, when a calf is only five days of age, its body is weak, and they tend to tremble a lot, especially on their feet. However, farms and warehouses have forced these weak and unstable young calves to clamber up ramps and onto trucks, which leads to their small hooves often slipping on these metal ramps. The calves face many difficulties while the first few days of their life, which only creates a hazard on their health and risk on their life. Male calves are often perceived as useless as they cannot produce milk or give birth to calves, so farmers narrow down a few options. They either dispose of the male calf, either by shooting it themselves, or they sell the calf to be raised for veal or beef. Many farmers who do not support the abuse tend to avoid their responsibilities and let the knacker men complete the “overwhelming” jobs for them, including slaughtering the calves. An anonymous dairy farmer confessed to the brutalities of the calves and how even they, themselves, cannot bring themselves to kill a young animal. “We get the knacker man out to do it. I could never do it. I can’t even feed them if I know they are going to be dead in a few days”, said an Anonymous dairy farmer. According to the Garden Analysis, about 95,000 calves disposed of on-farm represent 19% of the male dairy calves born. Despite the numbers of unnecessary abuse and slaughters decreasing, this type of abuse is only considered standard in the dairy industry alone. Dozens of undercover investigations are currently continued by animal rights activists and organizations. This past April, American dairies have revealed highly disturbing cruelty to cows and calves, over again attempting to spread awareness within the public. In fact, animal rights organization, Compassion Over Killing, released undercover footage from a Pennsylvania dairy farm that supplied Nestlé, the world’s largest and most successful food company. Thus, the only alternative the public can initiate towards is to purchase fewer products that come from cows, especially from farms. This also includes dairy products such as ice cream, butter, and cheese which involve partaking in abuse and endless misery for calves and cows.

Bibliography

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Solomon A. America’s Largest Dairy BUSTED for Severe Abuse of Baby Calves

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Levitt T. Dairy’s “dirty secret”: it’s still cheaper to kill male calves than to rear them

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The reality of dairy: killing calves [Internet]. Animals Australia. [cited 2022 Jan 26].

Available from: https://animalsaustralia.org/latest-news/the-reality-of-dairy-killing-calves/