The Modern Dairy Factories "We as individuals can make a difference, if we will only make the effort." —M. T. Priebe "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."   Now let's take a look at the treatment of the gentile dairy cow in the modern dairy farm factories. The following is an edited report personally given to me from a worker in one of today's Midwest factory farms. Some factory farms may be better, but many are far worse. This is the firsthand account of what happens every day on just one of these "farms." Parlor Milking   There are two types of factory dairy farms that are incorporated. The larger dairy farms are those that are free-stall where the cattle can roam, eat and drink within the yard. The free-stalls have sawdust on top of a two-inch rubber mat. The cows get a daily change of food, with a mixture of haylage, corn silage, corn grain, minerals and protein. They also get [hormone] shots to progress more milk. These cows are milked in a milking parlor and are pushed to milk 3 times a day 7 days a week 352 days a year. Due to the push for milk, the average life span for the cows is approximately 1-1½ years. The only exercise they receive is in the barnyard area. These cows do not get bred for calving. If they get injured (source unknown) they get shipped. They are continually pushed to produce. Tie Stall The tie-stall dairy factory is a more personal type of milking. But there are usually more involved issues than in a milking parlor system. The cows are tied in a stall where they can only stand or lay. They can only move about six inches ahead and back, and about a foot side to side. They all have an electric current above them to keep them in their stalls straight.   Every given day after chores, they go out into the barnyard for 1-2 hours. This yard is all cement, and they are in there like sardines. They do have fresh water and hay. Three times a week they get a high-protein feed added to increase their milk.   If the workers don't have patience or self-control, the cows will get verbal and/or physical abuse constantly. If the cows get injured by an employee, they are shot up with drugs and penicillin for about a month. If they don't recover, they get shipped for dog food, or the owners use them for their own meat.   The calves are all implants [see Appendix 9], thus are not the cows' true calves. Once the calf is clean, [if it is a heifer] it is given vitamin B and E, as well as a fluid to clean its throat, nose and lungs. Then the calves are pictured and tagged as heifers or bulls. The heifers will get cared for until they are full grown. Each calf is placed in a hut bedded with sawdust and straw in a 4 foot by 4 foot pen. These are cleaned out and re-bedded weekly. In the winter the heifers get a wool coat and a heat lamp, while the bulls suffer without. The heifers are fed warm, high-protein milk in a bottle for about 2 weeks, then they are weaned to a bucket for two more weeks. Then they are put in a larger corral and weaned to water, grain and hay. Until they are turned out to pasture, the heifers are well cared for.   The bulls are essentially abandoned; if they make it—great, if they don't—so what. They get the leftover milk, which is usually cold and is half water. The bottle or bucket is placed in hot water to try to warm it up. The bulls don't get any wool coats or heat lamps. Neither do they get any shots for vitamins B and E to clean their throats, lungs and noses. If they are strong they will make it. If they are weak they die a slow, lingering, miserable death.   The six-month-old heifer calves are turned out to pasture until they are used for milking. In the pasture they have no protection from the weather, disease or injury. They get the feed that none of the other cows will eat. Every other day the cows' mangers are cleaned, and this is taken to the pastured heifers. By this time it is usually moldy. If they don't want the pasture or cannot get to it because of the snow or ice, they are forced to eat this moldy stuff or starve. Usually 1 or 2 die over the winter. This could be avoided if they were cared for properly.   The bulls are raised for either breeding or meat and are not pastured. Instead, they are in a small corral and forced to live in their manure until it is cleaned once a week. Sometimes if there is enough help it gets cleaned more often, but this is rare.   If a cow is going to be shipped to another location it is fed extra well and given a shock treatment before leaving. If the trip is going to be long, a place is set up along the way where it can be milked. But if the cow is going to be slaughtered, it is starved and put in a crowed van until it dies. Each summer the best-looking cows are picked to be shown at the state fair. They must learn to tolerate a lot of noise and people. This is a slow process. The cows must also learn to halter lead and to stand perfectly still. Since they haven't been worked with from babyhood, they are harder to train. They are tied to the back of a tractor, and if they don't figure it out, they get dragged to death. All just for a fair and a ribbon.   All the cattle are sworn at and pushed to the limit. Usually rock ‘n' roll music is playing, which is hard on them. If at any time a cow gives any trouble it is shipped. Everything is pushed in their short lifetime of 3-5 years.   So the worker's sad report ended. Obviously, the animals in factory farms are not considered individuals with personalities, but machines, whose value is determined by how much profit they bring in. When they are sick, injured or old (usually around four years, a far cry from the 20-plus productive years cows used to live) they are shipped.   Animals have become mere disposable conveniences. They aren't even referred to as animals anymore, instead they are called by the "food" they produce. For example a herd of Holsteins or Jerseys are called a dairy herd. Hereford, Limousine or Simmental cattle are called a beef herd. Chickens are described as being either layers or broilers. They are no longer considered the creatures of God's creation or the subjects of His love that they are.   Please keep in mind that I am not against all farmers. There are family farmers out there who are treating the animals on their farms as humanely as farming allows. The animals on these farms are almost a part of the family, and their owners would sooner give up farming altogether than to degrade themselves by treating their animals with the absolute disregard shown in factory "farms." However, even here brutality is not entirely removed. Calves are still torn from their mothers at birth or shortly after, the bull calves are inevitably sold for veal, and when the faithful old cow is sick or too old to produce, more often than not she is sold for slaughter—a horrific end. While there are many wonderful farmers, often they are either unaware or misinformed as to what they are really doing. Showing "Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar." —Bradley Miller   While some areas of 4-H can be helpful, the animal projects, for the most part, are deleterious. Rather than teaching children true responsibility, they are being taught that life is disposable. They put hours of time into their animal (which isn't even acknowledged as such, it is instead called a project) and then it is sold after the fair. This is not being responsible. Animals are a lifetime commitment, and people should only make them a part of their lives on a committed basis. Children are taught to steel themselves to their animals and their own consciences.   Also, showing is frightening and very stressful for the animals. Winning a show often does not have to do so much with fitness since there are many tricks in grooming and positioning that can make even unfit animals look good. Thus teaching our young people to be dishonest as well. All rights reserved Copyright © 2006 By J. Lee